Ouseburn plans get green light
LAND HAS BEEN VACANT FOR 13 YEARS
A derelict patch of land in the heart of Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley will finally be transformed into a new housing development.
Lower Steenberg’s Yard will be the site of 28 new duplex riverside apartments, as well as four new shops, under proposals approved by city planning chiefs on Friday.
It is hoped that the latest plans will bring an end to a long-running development saga that has seen the land left vacant since 2005.
Developers were forced to abandon a previous plan for the former cattle sanatorium site after contractor Carillion collapsed and the scheme became financially unviable.
The latest designs are a more modest revision of the previous project, reducing the number of homes from 34 and scrapping a huge eight-storey tower that would have been a striking feature of the Ouseburn skyline.
After the plans were approved by Newcastle City Council’s planning committee, cabinet member for employment Coun Ged Bell, said: “The Ouseburn is growing all of the time as a place to live and start a business.
“The site has been largely vacant since 2005 and is close to the Toffee Factory.
“I am delighted that these duplex apartments and commercial units have been given the go-ahead. They will undoubtedly add to the appeal of the valley.”
Coun Gerry Keating asked the planning committee why a residential development was deemed acceptable on this site, when nearby land - recently given approval for use as an aparthotel - was deemed inappropriate for housing due to the noise from the Tyne Bar.
Council officers replied that this site’s extra distance from the popular venue meant that noise from live music events could be properly mitigated.
The site was originally occupied by an old cattle sanatorium, with that building eventually demolished in 2005 and remaining vacant ever since.
When the cattle sanatorium fell out of use in 1900, the building was used as a store or sawmill by timber exporters Robson and Miller, and by the mid20th century it was an oil works.
In a planning application, developer PIP igloo said: “A changing market and very high remediation costs for the site meant that this scheme ultimately proved to be financially unviable.
“igloo has worked with the design team to reconfigure the scheme and is aiming to complete the revised development in 2020.”
It added that the scheme has been “carefully considered and evolved over time”.
In 2012 Carillion igloo bid for and won the opportunity to enter into a development agreement with Newcastle City Council for four sites in the Lower Ouseburn Valley, the first of which to be developed was The Malings.