Whey eye! It’s the Newcastle wheel
IT’S been the talk of the Toon for more than a year – and now a plan to build Europe’s biggest observation wheel in Newcastle has got the go-ahead.
At nearly 20ft taller than the London Eye, the 460ft ‘Whey Aye’ will tower over the city’s Quayside area.
Despite being the subject of fierce rows between local politicians, city planners backed the £100million scheme yesterday.
The development will also include a 39ft ‘Geordie Giant’ statue, a food court and sport and leisure attractions.
Overall, the ‘ Giants of the Quayside’ project is expected to take two years to build on the former Spillers flour mill site, which has been vacant since 2011.
The Whey Aye was granted permanent planning permission – not for ten years as originally proposed.
Critics claim the project will look ‘cheap and nasty’. But its developer – the World Wheel Company – insists it will become a global attraction.
It is expected to attract around 261,000 extra visitors to Newcastle annually and is predicted to generate £15million for the local economy. Labour councillor Ged Bell said it was ‘an economic driver that our city simply cannot afford to turn down’.
But Dr Edward Wainwright, from Newcastle University’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, claimed the wheel would have ‘little or no direct community benefit’, and would merely add ‘to the profit margins of the developer’.
Phil Lynagh, of the World Wheel Company, said: ‘The development with the wheel at its heart will be world famous.
‘We are turning dereliction into someCog thing to be celebrated.’