Newcastle Quayside: Council lawyers accused of 'nitpicking' flat plans

The plan for Plot 12 on Newcastle Quayside has been dismissed as "monolithic"

Council lawyers have been accused of "nitpicking" over controversial plans to build a riverside apartment block.

Newcastle City Council wants to stop what it says is a "painfully poor" 14-storey development on the Quayside. 

The scheme for 300 flats on the Plot 12 site was initially rejected by the authority in 2021.

The refusal was overturned by a government planning inspector in May but the council has challenged that ruling in the High Court.

At a two-day review hearing to challenge the inspector's decision, the lawyer for the developers claimed the council was "nitpicking" over planning inspector Claire Searson's judgement.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service heard the council's barrister, Anjoli Foster, argue the inspector had failed to pay sufficient attention to the impact on St Ann's Church and concerns raised by Historic England.

The council also claimed the development would not meet minimum required space standards for some of its residents.

The site in question is one of the last undeveloped plots on Newcastle's Quayside

Paul Tucker, representing Packaged Living and Robertson Property, said the council was delving too deeply into legal details to undermine the decision and that Mrs Searson was entitled to judge the development for herself.

He said the council's point was "daft" and "the sort of level of criticism that comes into nitpicking".

The judge, Mr Justice Holgate, will now consider whether or not to quash the decision to allow the Plot 12 development to go ahead.

No timescale to deliver his verdict was set.