Plans for a huge Wallsend workshop which could create hundreds of jobs has been given the green light, despite residents fearing they will be plunged into darkness.
Smulders UK has been approved to build a 55-metre high industrial workshop building in Hadrian Yard. The firm told councillors the workshop is needed to help complete and deliver contracts worth up to £200m and could create hundreds of well-paying skilled jobs.
However, households on Railway Terrace and Hadrian Mews alerted North Tyneside Council that if the plans went ahead they would be plunged into semi-permanent darkness in the winter months by the shadow cast by the building.
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Residents also claimed the computer models showing the workshop's possible impact on sunlight were inaccurate.
Mrs Stephanie Roscamp Forshaw, of Railway Terrace, Wallsend, said: "The real world impact to this means houses closet to the building due to the sun's movement and the terraces geography will not see any sun whatsoever during the winter. This will render our homes almost uninhabitable due to the prevailing climatic conditions on the riverside, especially in the mornings.
"The endemic fog and resulting cold and camp will result in major mental health and well-being implications. Light is critical for human functioning.
"Loss of light is causally linked to depression, mood, and significantly reduced human performance levels across a range of activities. Without light, the body doesn't know when to wake up.
"The psychological harm manifests in increased rates of cancer, heart attacks, hypertension, dementia, and diabetes.
"Cold and damp living conditions have been linked to respiratory problems, respiratory infections, allergies, and asthma. Incidences of illness are increased from colds to pneumonia.
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"We ask you two questions, would you live in these cold, dark, damp conditions, would you let your families live in these conditions? If the answer is no, then you must either refuse, change the location, or delay the decision until new analyses are provided for everyone."
James Cullingford, representing Smulders' agent Lambert Smith Hampton, said: "We don't dispute there will be a degree of impact on Railway Terrace, that is unavoidable. We fully understand why those objections have been raised.
"There's always going to be a degree of impact on nearby occupiers. The negative and positive both have to be considered alongside the local plan.
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"The supporting information has been undertaken by qualified accredited professionals bound by professional codes of conduct. The information has also been informed by preamble conversions with the council and we believe is sufficient to determine this application.
"All the documents have been reviewed with no objections by council officers or any other of the statutory consultants and external bodies."
Chair of North Tyneside Council's planning committee, Willie Samuel said: "Without any shadow of a doubt this building will have an impact on the landscape and properties but under planning considerations, we have to consider the economic benefits as well."
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The plans were approved by a split decision of five votes in favour, and four against.
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