By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Controversial plans for a huge expansion of a business park near the M5 and M50 in Gloucestershire have been rejected.
Tiarks Property Developments Limited has been refused permission to go ahead with the extension of the Brockeridge Farm Business centre off the A38 in Twyning near Tewkesbury.
The site was planned to include eight two-storey warehouses for storage and distribution covering up to 358,750 sq ft.
The units would have had varying heights to a maximum roof height of up to just over 49ft.
The main access to the site was planned to be from the existing road built previously for Brockeridge Farm Business Centre off a junction from Brockeridge Road.
The proposal also included the offsite widening of the M50 slip road/A38/Brockeridge Road junction, which would have also included the extension of the footway onto Brockeridge Road.
Tewkesbury Borough Council’s planning committee considered the scheme which included 341 vehicle parking spaces for the site at their meeting this morning (June 17).
Keith Davies, chairman of Twyning Parish Council, spoke at the meeting and said there had been more than 140 objections from residents.
He said the parish council’s main concerns were teh site is not sustainable. “The inadequacy of the sewage twinning is well known and documented.
“During periods of heavy rain, raw sewage escapes from manholes and flows down village roads, and the village treatment plant is overwhelmed. Raw sewage is discharged into the Avon .
“Neither of these are acceptable as is. Adding the sewage from a further 300 or 500 or whatever the number is, employees will increase these problems.”
He also said all of the travel to the site which would lead to a significant increase in car journeys and scheme went against several local planning policies.
Connor Flanagan, the developer’s agent, spoke in favour of the proposals.
He said the site has been recognised as an ideal location for employment development.
“Put simply, there is no better site in the borough for employment development,” he said.
“The Gloucester Highway’s objection only relates to a footway cycleway connection to the village center, which is simply unfeasible and not justified by the independent road safety audit.
“On the other side of the scales, what benefits do we have?
“Significant weight is attached to the delivery of 500 new jobs.
“We have firm inquiries from both local businesses and others who want to locate a brokerage business park.
“Economists have objectively quantified long-term operational benefits as 31 million pounds of gross added value into the local economy annually.
“£17 million in earnings are placed into the local economy annually, and 700,000 pounds in annual business rates income for the borough.
“Significant weight is also attached to the economic benefits arising from the construction phase and the fact that the proposal will help address the shortfall in employment land delivery.
“It is plain to see therefore, that there are no adverse impacts arising which significantly and demonstrably outweigh the very substantial benefits.
“That is the conclusion of your officers, and we respectfully request that you endorse their recommendation.”
Councillor Philip Workman (Independent, Tewkesbury North and Twyning) proposed refusing the application.
He said Twyning is not a “nimby village” and understands the need for development.
“[The village] recognises the value of low level small scale businesses that many of us saw on the site visit.
“These can sit comfortably within the rural landscape. However, this application definitely crosses a line.
“And indeed is positively harmful to one of the loveliest villages in our borough. It is in our gift today to protect or start to destroy this village.
“Make no doubt about it, if this is permitted, the rural nature of Twyning will start to be lost.”
This was seconded by Cllr Mel Gore (C, Isbourne) who said that insufficient way has been given to highways objection.
“This is more relative to an urban design, something that you’d expect to see in Tewkesbury and certainly doesn’t fit with the existing design of the buildings, nor within the landscape that it’s due to be sat in,” she said.
She said it did not comply with local planning policies and Cllr Matt Dimond-Brown (G, Tewkesbury South ) said he would vote to refuse the application because of the landscape harm.
He said none of the mitigation measures would address that and it went against local policies.
There is such significant harm given the scale of this proposal, that the mitigation would have to be significant.
“I haven’t seen that factored in early enough to have the confidence about being able to back this.”
And Councillor Mary Jordan (LD, Churchdown St John’s) said she was really conflicted with the plans.
She raised concerns over the slip road and drainage and said this has to be balanced against the economic benefits of the scheme.
“So much is unknown,” she said. “We don’t even know for a fact what the actual floorspace is going to be.
“We don’t know what it is going to look like. It’s described as an extension. No way is it an extension.
“The existing business park looks like a cozy residential setting compared to the proposals.”
The committee voted to reject the scheme amid concerns it did not comply with planning policies along with sewage system capacity and highways fears.
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