Updated quay plans met with more complaints

THE latest version of a contentious £40 million housing vision that could alter one of Newcastle's most famous views has attracted around 160 more public responses.

- DANIEL HOLLAND

A developer has been trying for more than three years to push forward building plans at the mouth of the Ouseburn, which have sparked a backlash from locals. Initial plans for an 18-storey tower on the vacant Malmo Quay site were branded a “monstrosity” after being unveiled in 2021, with concerns that it would loom over the neighbourhood and forever change the beloved view of the Newcastle Quayside from the Free Trade Inn pub, before being redrawn to cut the height of the apartment block.

It emerged last month that another fresh set of designs have now been lodged with Newcastle City Council by regeneration partnership PfP igloo, which still include a smaller, 10-storey tower, 13 townhouses and a new building for the Cycle Hub on Malmo Quay.

The proposal would also include a further 80 flats to be built on the neighbouring Spillers Quay in a series of buildings no taller than four storeys.