New plans lodged for rejected flats

New plans have been submitted for the flats on Lime Street in Newcastle's Ouseburn

Redrawn plans for a rejected housing development have been submitted.

A government planning inspector upheld Newcastle City Council's decision to refuse permission for a 57-apartment complex in the Ouseburn Valley earlier this year.

The planning committee rejected the original proposals on the grounds that the crescent-shaped building would have a harmful impact on the conservation area and some flats would not have adequate light levels.

An altered version of the scheme has now been submitted to the Labour-led local authority for approval in the hope of reviving the development.

Councillors went against city planners' advice in refusing the Lime Street development in March and the verdict was upheld by the Planning Inspectorate, which agreed the scheme would "not provide satisfactory living conditions for future occupiers".

But the inspector accepted the benefits of regenerating the disused plot would outweigh any harm caused to the local area.

The new planning application put forward by Property@LimeSt is for 57 apartments within a building that would stand between four and six storeys tall.

It would require the demolition of a former MOT centre and a pigeon cree on the site.

The key changes to the application relate to three apartments at the southern end of the development, which have been redesigned to become dual-aspect in order to increase the amount of light they get, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The application is expected to come back before the council's planning committee for a decision at an unconfirmed date.