Plans for Towcester employment zone refused as DHL warehouse appeal looms
An application for an 11-hectare employment site on the edge of a rural Northamptonshire town, which would have sat alongside three other large controversial developments, has been kicked out by the council.
The plans, submitted by Alban Mann LLP, encompassed fields next to Bell Plantation Garden Centre in Towcester, in between the A43 and the A5. According to the indicative masterplan, the site would contain more than a dozen small to medium-sized buildings which would be a mix of warehousing and commercial use.
Planning documents state building heights would range from 11m to 16m tall and say the development is likely to generate around 500 new full-time jobs, with around £16 million added to the local economy per year.
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The application, which has been two years in the making, went to West Northamptonshire Council's (WNC) strategic planning board yesterday (November 19), where officers recommended it be approved. However, councillors started the meeting by asking if they would be able to defer the application at the outset, raising concerns over prejudicing the looming DHL warehouse development appeal.
The logistics giant also applied to build a 32-hectare employment site directly above the Bell Plantation proposals but was rejected just months before due to the impact on traffic and visual amenities. Councillors argued that the plans were intrinsically linked and that making a decision on the smaller site could impact the DHL planning inquiry that is due to be held in February.
However, WNC planning officers warned that the authority would have little grounds to delay their decision as, though the sites were directly next to each other, they had not been submitted in conjunction and each had its own merit. Members were told not issuing a decision would likely lead to the council having to fight another appeal against non-determination and agreed to debate the plans.
Objections were submitted by six local parish and town councils as well as more than 70 letters of objection from members of the public. Similar to the DHL site application, no statutory objections were made against the plans, but concerns were raised by local highways against "severe cumulative impacts" on the road network in the future if all proposed employment sites are approved.
A Local Highways representative admitted at the meeting that they were "not happy" with the predicted outcomes on the road network by 2031, but explained that the A43 and A5 were under National Highways' control and they were therefore unable to object.
Greens Norton Parish councillor Chris Bowmer spoke in objection: "I cannot tell you how angry I am. This particular application has some merit in our view. We’re not particularly unhappy about the approach to employment scale, medium and small units compared to the big warehouses.
"The reason we’re here is because of the cumulative impact of the traffic and the impact on our village. What work, what numbers, what calculations, what considerations have been done for the local road network?"
Ward councillor Maggie Clubley also spoke out against the plans: "Myself and most of the locals in Towcester have always been very supportive of the Bell Plantation. But, I think everyone in Towcester does have concerns about the height and size of the large unit that they have planned and also of the traffic.
"It seems to me that we have a local plan that was signed off incorrectly and now all the local people around here are suffering. It will change Towcester from a sleepy historic market town into warehouse and big logistics hub which is not what is required.
"There is no confidence in what National Highways, and with the greatest respect, what the local highways say. Every village around Towcester objects to these developments and the local people need to be listened to."
'Tarred with the brush of DHL...'
Speaking on behalf of the applicant, Jason Tait appealed to the committee to approve the plans: "This application should be a straightforward proposal. It’s the exact type of employment development that was originally envisaged for this site.
"What we seem to be doing is getting this application tarred with the brush of DHL. We are massively different, this is a completely different scheme.
"[The development is] by local landowners who operate Bell Plantation and it's in their own interest that the traffic in the local area is dealt with. They want a proportionate development that is appropriate to the locality. There are parameter plans that will mean you won’t get mega sheds that you’d normally see in Northampton.
"Don’t throw the good site out because of the cumulative impact of something that’s bad."
Though some councillors were minded to give the green light to the plans, the vote to approve the development ultimately failed.
Councillor Keith Holland-Delamere commented that the "elephant in the room" was the severe cumulative traffic impacts and said there was a "chicken and the egg" scenario where planning applications were being done without a proper strategic view of what was needed for the area.
The committee voted to refuse the employment site plans due to the cumulative traffic impacts predicted by 2031 and the sighting, scale and mixture of the buildings.