Newcastle development would 'tear heart out of Eldon Square'

The proposed city centre development would contain shops and leisure units

A retail complex set for Newcastle will have to be redrawn so it doesn't "tear the heart" out of Eldon Square shopping centre, councillors have heard.

Plans for East Pilgrim Street include a leisure and shopping development on the site of Stack container village.

However the city council's audit committee heard Eldon Square could be left almost half empty due to Covid and new shops were "not justifiable".

The developers said there was "ongoing dialogue" with the council.

The site is part of £200m regeneration plans led by Taras Properties, which is owned by the Reuben brothers, and includes a hotel at the city's former fire station and the 14-storey Bank House office block.

Newcastle City Council's audit committee heard that due to the pandemic, civic chiefs would find it "very difficult" to back those plans now, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

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Eldon Square has new management after Intu fell into administration and has several vacant units due Debenhams and Arcadia stores closing

Michelle Percy, the council's director of place, said she had been "very concerned" about the development's impact on the existing retailers for years and did not want to "dilute" Eldon Square.

"You can see from other cities that you have one historic city centre or mall, like our own…The second that you build another one nearby, you start to tear the heart out of the original space," she said.

She added Covid had "changed the face of retail so significantly" it was "not justifiable" to create any more retail space in the city.

Stack currently operates on the site of the former Odeon cinema

One option could be to use the space for coffee shops or a gym, the committee was told.

She said last week the city was "fighting" to keep its John Lewis store, after the retailer announced closures.

A spokesman for Avison Young, development and planning advisers to Taras Properties, said there was "ongoing dialogue" about what form of development would be most appropriate, given its strategic position within the overall context of the East Pilgrim Street regeneration.

The Bank House development, on the site of the former Bank of England building, is due to be completed in 2023.

A development known as Pilgrim Place is planned for the Worswick Street area and will feature offices, a public square, car park, bars and restaurants.