Triple approval at Newcastle committee
Hanro’s 432-bed student living plans at Percy House, a 166-unit aparthotel at TJ Hughes, and Banks Property’s plans for 73 homes at West Brunton have all secured the go-ahead.
Newcastle City Council’s planning committee faced a bumper agenda on Friday 13 February, with all key schemes going before it being greenlit in line with officer recommendation.
Percy House redevelopment – 2025/1589/01/DET
Plans lodged by Pegasus Group and architect NORR for Hanro last year proposed the demolition of 11–19 Leazes Park Road, including Percy Tall and the former Labour Club, alongside the partial demolition, refurbishment and extension of Percy House.
At the heart of the proposals is a new 13-storey PBSA building, which steps down to 12 storeys at the northern end, and further reduces to four storeys to adjoin neighbouring properties.
The scheme will deliver up to 432 student bedrooms, a new commercial unit, and public realm improvements, while Percy Small will be refurbished and extended from five to seven storeys to align with the adjacent Magnet Court building. The scheme will also open up a publicly accessible route through to the area around St James’ Park.
TJ Hughes redevelopment – 2024/0930/01/DET and 2024/0943/01/LBC
The 166-unit aparthotel scheme involves the redevelopment of the building close to the Bigg Market by developer TS R1, owned by Anil Juneja, supported by planning consultancy Baltic.
The application proposes the conversion of the building’s upper floors alongside a two-storey rear roof extension, with amenities added including a gym, games area, central atrium, and a first-floor wellness retreat.
Retail use would be retained at ground and basement level, with a small amount of retail floorspace reconfigured to accommodate a entrance and reception for the serviced accommodation.
The plans were cleared despite some concerns raised by Bigg Market bar operators, in light of problems experienced in other areas where long-standing venues have been troubled by noise complaints from incoming residential occupiers.
West Brunton – 2024/1569/01/OUT
Proposals for a 73-home residential development to the west of the city, within Newcastle Great Park, were also cleared. The 11-acre site is identified as part of a neighbourhood growth area in the council’s local plan policy.
An affordable homes provision of 15% will be met, with contributions also due in support of local primary education and special educational needs provision, nature reserves, parks and allotments. A new footpath/cyclepath will be built through to Brunton Lane from the new development.
Detailed planning work will now begin, with the firm hoping to start on site next year. Jamilah Hassan, community relations manager at the Banks Group, says: “This is a logical location for the type of high-quality development we’ll now be bringing forward, which is close to both the amenities within Newcastle Great Park’s district centre and a very well-connected public transport system.
“There is a clear need to boost the supply of quality homes in North East England and across the UK as a whole, both to ensure people have the housing options they need in the places they want to live and to support the wider UK economy’s growth ambitions.”
The scheme is within the Great Park boundary. Credit: via Footprint
