The court has also admitted the Friends of King Edward Park as party to the proceedings.

The court ruled last week that the group's admission was in the wider public interest.

Friends of King Edward Park spokesman John Lewer said the group was concerned about the proposed development's impact on the iconic heritage values of King Edward and Arcadia parks.

The court will also examine the buildings' effect on the neighbouring natural environment and the extensive grouting required to stablise old mine workings.

'It's most disappointing that we've been forced to go to court to ensure the public voice can be directly heard over such a proposed massive development," Dr Lewer said.

"That said, we're looking forward to providing our experts' evidence to the developer Crescent Newcastle and the Newcastle City Council."

The Project attracted 170 mostly critical submissions while on public exhibition, including one from Newcastle East Public School parents.

The majority of the submissions related the the over-development of the amphitheater site

A submission on behalf of Newcastle East Public School P&C objected to a "nine-storey high imposing wall of units looking directly into our school playground" and called for a cut in the height of the proposed buildings and the number of units in them.

"This raises significant unease for us in regard to our children's everyday privacy," it said.

The parents' submission also raised concerns about increasing volumes of traffic around the school and the development's affect on enrollments, which are already over-capacity.

Nine, which owns NBN, successfully applied to rezone the land from low-density to medium-density residential.

The NSW Department of Planning endorsed the changes in April 2018.

The department's executive director regions, Steve Murray, said at the time that new height limits for the site would allow for a "maximum building height of seven storeys", but the plans lodged last January included a nine-storey building.

The project includes 11 two-storey townhouses arranged in an arc around Mosbri Crescent, 161 units spread across three buildings and parking for 242 cars.

The council's Local Planning Strategy, updated in 2015, said The Hill would need to accommodate another 39 dwellings by 2031, based on forecasts by population consultants .id.

"The proposed development represents more than four times the number of dwellings that it is estimated the suburb will require," the Open Newcastle Inc submission said.

The community group also questioned whether the proposed development met the stated objective of the planning strategy to facilitate medium-density housing while "respecting the existing heritage character of the area".

"The proposed development clearly serves the private interests of the shareholders of Crescent Newcastle Pty Ltd, not the public interest," it says.

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