Planners reject controversial warehouses plan

Plans to build warehouses and a new country park on green space near a rural village have been rejected.

Frontier Estates had sought to build nine warehouses on land between Old Stratford and Cosgrove, near the A5 in Northamptonshire.

Protesters had gathered outside West Northamptonshire Council's planning meeting about the scheme, having raised concerns about traffic, loss of green space and the visual impact of the units.

But after a four-hour planning meeting at Towcester Forum the plans for the 40-hectare (99-acre) site were denied, despite being previously recommended for approval.

As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the proposals for the large employment site, branded as Frontier Park, consisted of almost 70,000 sq m (753,474 sq ft) of floorspace.

The largest shed would have had a height of 18.9m (62ft).

The meeting heard that the plans received almost 3,500 objections from members of the public.

However, planning officers who lobbied for its approval said the scheme would have brought "substantial" economic benefits, including the creation of 955 jobs.

Opponents of the warehouse development argued that it would cause significant environmental and planning harm.

Ecologist Dominic Woodfield told the committee that the area is a designated local wildlife site which would be "completely destroyed" by the sheds.

"You have clear and abundant reasons for refusal," he said.

"A scheme that is non-compliant with an outdated allocation cannot outweigh or justify the destruction of a rare habitat of at least county and arguably regional importance."

Sarah Bool, the Conservative MP for South Northamptonshire, also objected to the plans and raised concerns that the site was a known flood zone.

"As should just be clear from the over 3,400 objections, this application fails to meet the requirements of the local and national planning policy and therefore should be rejected," she said.

Planning agent Peter Frampton, representing the developers, argued that wildlife habitats could be relocated to a nearby country park, but councillors were not convinced this would adequately offset the environmental loss.

After adjourning the meeting for a short while to come up with the exact wording for their reasons for refusal, councillors overwhelmingly voted to reject the application – with eight in favour of turning down the scheme and one against.

Developers have a right to appeal the decision to the Planning Inspectorate if they choose.

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