Rejected Newcastle heliport flat development labelled 'one of the worst' in recent years

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A bid to build hundreds of new homes on the Newcastle Heliport was rejected outright on Friday, after being branded “one of the worst” developments proposed for the city in years.

Newcastle City Council’s planning committee unanimously refused an application for up to 356 apartments on the Skinnerburn Road plot, to the west of the Utilita Arena.

The decision came after a broad collection of complaints about the proposal – including a lack of basic infrastructure, environmental damage, and the absence of affordable housing.

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Plans to build more than 300 apartments on the Newcastle Heliport site, seen here from the other side of the TynePlans to build more than 300 apartments on the Newcastle Heliport site, seen here from the other side of the Tyne
Plans to build more than 300 apartments on the Newcastle Heliport site, seen here from the other side of the Tyne | LDRS

Afterwards, the developers behind the plan vowed to appeal the verdict and accused the council of trying to “thwart” the regeneration of the heliport.

MB European previously saw a vision for 280 homes on the Tyne Gorge site knocked back in 2015, following worries that included the loss of a habitat for the rare dingy skipper butterfly.

Its latest designs were for 356 properties spread across five separate apartment blocks, the tallest being seven storeys high, which the landowner described as a “vibrant gateway to the west of the city centre”.

But civic centre planners told councillors on Friday morning that they were again unimpressed by the proposal.

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The committee heard how the homes would be reliant on roads and other infrastructure which were part of a 1,100-home transformation plan for the neighbouring Quayside West project on the old Calders leadworks, a site which was recently purchased by Homes England after the company behind the scheme fell into administration, in order to “unlock” this section of the Forth Yards area.

Planning officer Jon Rippon described how future residents would be left with the “dark and unpleasant” Tyneside Road as their access point to the estate and that it was “unfair” to leave them with only a Greggs as their nearest shop.

He also criticised a “disappointing lack of variety” in the houses, which are almost all one or two-bedroom flats, and a lack of any confirmed affordable housing within the development.

Concerns were also raised about the loss of the land as a habitat for breeding birds, though there have been no records of the dingy skipper being seen at the heliport this year, and a lack of measures to protect potential residents from the noise at a neighbouring gas pumping station.

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Lemington Labour councillor Barry Phillipson called the plans “probably one of the worst applications brought forward before this committee in all the time I have been on the council”.

Mr Rippon reported that the developer had asked for Friday’s decision to be delayed as they  felt they were “making progress” in dealing with the council’s issues – but then told councillors that the application has been in for more than three years and there has been “no clear evidence” in that time of the problems being resolved.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service afterwards, a spokesperson for MB European confirmed that they would make an appeal against the refusal – which came on the day after the Government confirmed major planning reforms aimed at building 1.5 million new homes.

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The company said: “We have worked consistently and diligently with the local planning authority for the last 16 years and we have followed their advice.

“We have been thwarted, delayed, and the goalposts have been moved. Quite frankly, it is outrageous behaviour.

“The application was made in good faith and at some considerable expense, it is professionally done. It is outrageous of the council to take the view that it has and this will go to appeal.”

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