Westland Estates Ltd have been denied planning permission to add an extra 29 flats to a luxury student accommodation proposal, currently under consideration by Newcastle Borough Council.

The original proposals outlined a 244 -bed development which included duplex apartments that straddled two-floors of the building at a time. They recently sought to replace these duplex apartments with more conventional one storey flats. Doing so would have decreased the parking spaces available at the block from 21 to 19.

Chairman of Thistleberry Residents' Association, Andrea Drakakis-Smith, spoke out against the change though, saying "to increase the number of rooms and decrease the amount of parking appears to be somewhat perverse."

"We are reliably informed that parking in this part of town is already a problem. The students able to afford to live in this location will want to bring their own cars."

Such concerns about the new proposal's effect on parking in the area were echoed by the council who saw fit to turn down the application almost immediately.

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