Man jailed in ‘victimless prosecution’
Bridge south of Scotswood Road, the land has largely been derelict since previous industrial tenants left.
The arena sits right in the middle of this area so the council are already discussing how it can be incorporated into these long-term plans.
It means that, once the new venue is up and running, it’s likely that the arena will be demolished to make way for homes, offices and commercial buildings.
A Newcastle City Council spokesman said: “We are working closely with SMG, the operators of the Metro Arena, to explore options and future opportunities should the venue relocate elsewhere.
“The area has significant redevelopment potential given its proximity to the Stephenson Quarter, Central Station, and the Newcastle Business Park, and we see principal future uses as office, leisure and/or residential in addition to planned development.
“We are committed to creating the right conditions to encourage investment and deliver economic growth.
“With this in mind, we adopted a Development Framework for the Forth Yards area in September 2016 which includes the current Lib Dem Anita Lower Arena site. This will help guide development and assist in creating a vibrant new asset for the city centre and help realise our ambitions for Newcastle.”
The Liberal Democrats are urging the council to accelerate development plans for the area as it looks likely the end is nigh for the arena.
Opposition leader Anita Lower said: “It may be some time until the arena departs, but given that it generally takes a decade to get from vision to reality in major regeneration, the council needs to get on with it now.
“We have heard aspirational talk from the council about mixed use development but as of this moment, there is nothing happening, and it has been like that for a long time. We would like to see the council reap the benefit of this site as a location for employment, whether in terms of an expansion of Newcastle Business Park or as the location for a major new entertainment attractor.
“We’d like it to become something more than just another apartment village.
“When the Lib Dems ran Newcastle, we were keen to see this area be considered as the location for a convention centre.
“Regrettably, Newcastle has missed the boat on that, but we believe the council needs to show more ambition and get on with creating jobs.
“There’s no excuse for this part of the city centre remaining derelict indefinitely.” Reporter A HUSBAND who subjected his wife to a humiliating sexual assault has been jailed despite his victim refusing to give evidence against him.
The 35-year-old man, who cannot be named in order to protect his victim, has been jailed for ten years in one of the first cases of so-called “victimless prosecution”.
The man was initially arrested after his wife reported to police that she had been raped at their home in the North East, and showed police footage of the assault on a mobile phone.
Although initially co-operative with the police, within a couple of months the victim refused to go to court, saying she wanted her husband released from custody and giving a retraction statement.
However, the prosecution went again based on the evidence of the video footage which was “disturbing” in court.
The two minute video showed the victim being abused. Appearing distressed, the victim can be seen crying and begging the man to stop.
The judge called it a truly horrendous offence with the woman the subject of an exercise in punishment and humiliation.
The man said he made the video for evidence in his divorce proceedings.
Police secured a statement from an Imam saying he would not have required this evidence for a divorce.
The Muslim defendant gave differing accounts in court saying the couple often videoed each other and Islam consented to everything on the video.
The jury returned their guilty verdict of causing sexual activity without consent after 90 minutes of deliberating.
In addition to the jail sentence the man was also given life on the sex offenders’ register. described as