Prime flats on the Gateshead Quayside will be left feeling like a “Victorian prison” after a £300m arena complex is built next door, say locals who fear being left in darkness.
Residents of the Baltic Quay apartments have long warned that the huge riverside development will have a devastating impact on their lives – with the prospect of a large hotel blocking out light as it looms over them at the eastern end of the site. And they say the situation has become even worse for them than originally feared, after Gateshead Council approved redrawn designs for the 11-storey hotel earlier this month which will raise the rear of the building by four floors and extend it further back.
Campaigners have now issued a plea for the hotel site, due to be a dual-branded Novotel and Ibis, to be urgently revised again to protect its neighbours’ quality of life.
Read More: New £300m Quayside arena plans approved – but redrawn hotel could cause more problems for neighbours
Peter Bauckham, who has lived at the sought-after Quayside location since 2003, made clear that residents are “not against” the arena project as a whole – but are vehemently opposed to the design and location of the proposed hotel, which will be just metres away from some flats’ windows. Mr Bauckham, also a director of the Baltic Quay development’s management company, added that having a massive hotel block so close to some residents’ homes would leave the building feeling “like a Victorian prison”.
The council said that neighbours’ concerns “were listened to and taken into account” and insisted that the redesigned hotel would “improve the overall aesthetic” of the development, which also includes the 12,500-capacity arena, a conference centre, plus new bars and restaurants. Many of the Baltic Quay’s occupiers enjoy picturesque views across the River Tyne which the hotel would block out, which it is also feared will significantly devalue their homes and make them hard to sell.
But resident Andrew Munnoch said that concern was very much secondary to the impact on people’s health. He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “For me, it is not about the view. It is about the light, about people’s health and wellbeing. This is about our amenity, our quality of life.”
Mr Munnoch has accused the council of violating its own planning policy, which states that a new development will only be granted permission where it “does not have an unacceptable impact on amenity” and “safeguards the enjoyment of light, outlook and privacy”. He added: “Right from the beginning they [the council] were aware that they were going to completely block our daylight.
“But they need to reconsider the design of the hotel. How does building a hotel justify the damage it is doing to people’s lives? At its most basic, it is just unfair how we have been treated. You don’t need to be an expert in daylight to realise that it is going to be appalling.”
Initial work is under way to prepare the land between the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art and Sage Gateshead for the building work. The arena will replace the Utilita Arena on the other side of the Tyne when it opens and will be called The Sage, as it is being sponsored by the same technology firm that has the naming rights for the concert venue next door.
The planning application for the arena site, being developed by Ask: Patrizia, claims that Baltic Quay residents "currently enjoy artificially high levels of daylight as the site is underdeveloped". But it also states that, in one study conducted, 116 of 188 Baltic Quay windows tested would see a reduction in daylight – with 73 of those suffering a loss of more than 40%.
Glenn Smethurst has lived in the Baltic Quay for around two years and said it was “lovely” to see residents enjoying its garden during Covid lockdowns, but they now fear it will be left in darkness and that its greenery will die off. He said: “I think most people recognise that this is a development that will be good for Gateshead, but the size and the location of that hotel is definitely not.”
As well as demanding that developers rethink the hotel plan, Mr Bauckham has called on Gateshead’s planning committee to come and see the problem for themselves – having not conducted a visit to the site either before the arena plans were first approved in November 2020 or the revised plans this month. He said: “All they had to do was stand in our garden. I would like the planning committee to come here and meet us, that is my challenge to them.”
The hotel now also features an open air roof terrace bar, which was originally meant to be indoors. But a council planning report concluded that the four-storey increase in size and worsened light obstruction to the Baltic Quay were only “modest”.
A local authority spokesperson said neighbours were given notice of the hotel’s redesign, which attracted just four formal objection letters, and that no site visit was deemed necessary. They added: “The concerns and objections of residents were listened to and taken into account, and the council is therefore fully satisfied our policies were followed.
“The proposed amendments won unanimous approval and the revised planning consent for the dual branded hotel will now be developed as part of the council’s development of The Sage NG Arena and Conference centre. The changes proposed were based on the height and scale of the hotel impacting on the quays river frontage.
"Following an architect review, the developers were able to propose a more efficient design solution by reducing the height of the building to improve the overall aesthetic.
“For the original planning decision on the primary application, in accordance with central Government’s response to Covid-19, no site visits were held for any planning applications across the borough. However all objections were reviewed and considered in the normal way.
“The Sage NG Arena and Conference centre will be a world class events space which will boost visitor and business tourism, the development of The Sage and the dual branded hotel are bringing forward employment opportunities for the residents of Gateshead and surrounding areas.” Ask Real Estate and hotel architects AHR declined to comment.
