'Huge, bleak and depressing' warehouses near M5 in Gloucester rubber-stamped amid traffic chaos and light loss fears

“Overbearing, bleak and depressing” warehouses at a Gloucester business park will soon be built despite opposition from dozens of neighbours. Plans to develop plots 3, 4 and 5 at Gloucester Business Park in Brockworth have been approved by Borough planners.

However, dozens of people had objected to Gloucester BP Developments Ltd’s scheme due to the increased traffic it would lead to on nearby roads such as Lobleys Drive. Some 30 people raised concerns which included the loss of light and overbearing nature of the proposals and that there would not be much of a buffer for wildlife, noise and pollution.

Oscar Smith, a Cooper’s Edge resident, spoke against both schemes at Tewkesbury Borough Council’s planning committee meeting today (April 23). He told councillors the revised plans had failed to address the concerns raised by residents over the units’ location, height and use as warehouses.

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“Not to mention the associated effects of traffic noise and the utilitarian overbearing design,” he said. “The proposed largest building has a height of 14.87 metres, a footprint of 6,700 square metres and is composed of generic utilitarian materials.”

He said the total area of the plots was 16,000 square metres offering a “bleak and depressing outlook” with the “complete oppression of the skyline apart from a slither of space between units”.

Grace Brocklehurst, the agent for the applicant, called on the committee to follow the officer’s recommendation to approve the proposals for plots 3 and 4. She said the developer had reviewed the application to address comments raised at a recent site visit.

The applicant has reduced the proposed height of the buildings by up to two metres. “It is considered this development will not lead to unreasonable loss of light to the principle rooms of the adjacent dwellings,” she said.

“The separation distance is also in excess of the buffer required at the outline permission granted for Cooper’s Edge.” She also said the site would create hundreds of jobs.

The committee voted to grant delegated permission for both the reserved matters applications for plots 3 and 4 and the separate application for plot 5.

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