Expansion for Hilton car sales firm with 700-vehicle storage area approved

Plans for a 700-car storage area for an expanding Derbyshire business have been approved. A South Derbyshire District Council meeting last night (November 12) saw plans from P.M Harris Ltd for a 700-car storage area approved at The Mease industrial estate off Lowman Way in Hilton.

Councillors were told the scheme would form an expansion of an unnamed nearby car sales company. A prep centre for the used car supermarket Hilton Garage sits opposite the site in Lowman Way, while the DA Hulse Caravan Repair Centre, UK Car Broker and Overton Prestige car dealership sit nearby off Isis Way.

The meeting was told there would be 80 car movements (40 to and 40 from) each day and two daily vehicle transporter movements. Councillors, concerned about the noise impact on nearby new housing on The Mease, a former Ministry of Defence site, limited the site’s operations to 7am-7am on weekdays, 8am-1pm on Saturdays and no activity on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

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If the alarms of all 700 vehicles started going off simultaneously in the middle of the night a contact number would be displayed outside the site for people to be able to contact the owners. Cllr Charles Cuddington, speaking on behalf of Hilton Parish Council, said the authority objected to the scheme due to the existing flooding issues in the surrounding area and said this could be worsened by the site’s proposed use.

He said water due to be stored and slowly drained from the site should be limited to five litres per second instead of seven litres in order to lessen potential flooding. Councillors later agreed to this plan.

Chris Timothy, speaking on behalf of the applicants, said the plot formed part of the wider business park allocated for new industry by the district council. He said the plan would help “build a strong and competitive economy” in line with council aspirations.

Cllr Jayne Davies said she was “all for” expansion of a local “well-established” business but said flooding in the area had “increased massively”. She said there had been a substantial increase in flooding in the past two years, but said the scheme remained a good use of the land, with mitigation to lessen heavy water flows off the site.

Cllr Amy Wheelton said: “Clearly everyone is saying it is flooding and putting 700 cars on the site, which can leak stuff, harm needs to be prevented. We as a council need to protect the environment and these cars could have oil leaks which would lead straight into the watercourse.”

Councillors approved a condition to ensure pollution prevention measures were put in place to stop oil and other substances leaking into the surrounding water supplies.

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