Mounting doubts surround huge plans to build Europe’s biggest observation wheel in Newcastle.
While developers insist they are “totally committed” to the £100m Whey Aye wheel, one boss has accused the city’s council leader of “killing” a project and local authority chiefs have confirmed that an agreement over a key plot of riverside land has lapsed. Work on the 460ft attraction and a surrounding Giants on the Quayside leisure complex had been due to start in 2020, but there has been no sign of construction beginning at the site of the demolished Spillers flour mill in Ouseburn and its planning permission is due to expire in six months’ time.
Repeated delays to the project, which was backed by city councillors in summer 2019, have been blamed on the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But, in a social media post from September, World Wheel Company (WWC) chief executive Phil Lynagh also claimed that Newcastle City Council leader Nick Kemp was “killing our planned development which would create hundreds of jobs in the Byker and Walker constituencies”.
In a statement this week, the company said it remained in talks with the council and still intends to build the controversial wheel.
The developer told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “Progressing our Giants on the Quayside development has been hindered by the well documented challenges outside our control which have disrupted global capital markets. However, we have been resilient throughout to ensure we remain in a position to move Giants on the Quayside forward.
“We are in dialogue with Newcastle City Council with the intention of delivering the development. As ever, we and our funding partners remain totally committed to building a world class leisure destination development that will create jobs and drive continued investment for the city and its people.”
Coun Kemp, who succeeded Nick Forbes as council leader earlier this year, has been a long-term opponent of the Whey Aye. The Labour councillor has branded the scheme “environmentally destructive” and accused the developers in 2019 of showing “absolute contempt” to residents in his Byker ward.
When asked, the city council declined to say whether or not its new political leadership was supportive of a project that the previous Labour administration had called “an economic driver that our city simply cannot afford to turn down”. In a tweet directed at Sir Keir Starmer on September 28, Mr Lynagh said: “If labour is the party to support jobs and economic growth, can you please explain to me why the labour leader at Newcastle City Council is killing our planned development which would create hundreds of jobs in the Byker and Walker constituencies?”
Planning permission for the scheme is due to expire in June 2023 if work does not start on the Spillers site by then. And the city council has confirmed that an option agreement for the World Wheel Company to lease the land already lapsed in July this year. A spokesperson said that the council’s property team “have engaged in an informal discussion with WWC and we await their proposals”.
As well as the big wheel, the development is due to feature a 39ft human-shaped statue called The Geordie Giant, a virtual golf club, and a family entertainment centre.
Asked if the political leadership of the authority supported the Whey Aye going ahead, the council said: “Cabinet members will be consulted at the appropriate time in the process. Recommendations from the property team will be made to the leadership once the required information is received from the developer and accurately assessed.”
Regarding what would happen to the land if planning permission does lapse, the authority added: “The site is part owned by Newcastle Council and Homes England. Both landholders will need to agree on any proposals put forward by developers for disposal of the site. The site is strategically important, and we are confident that it will be of major interest to those exploring opportunities to create employment in Newcastle.”
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