Council opposes warehouse scheme ahead of inquiry

Proposals for a warehouse scheme have been rejected by councillors - although a final decision will not be made until after a planning inquiry.

Equites Newlands (Thrapston East) wants to build units on about 150 acres (60 hectares) of land at Castle Manor Farm next to the A14 near Thrapston.

With campaigners looking on, North Northamptonshire Council's planning committee unanimously opposed the plan - which the applicant says will create 2,700 jobs - at a meeting on Wednesday.

But it had already been referred to the government's Planning Inspectorate, who will hold next month's inquiry, after the council took more than three years to resolve the issue.

In a report to the committee, council officers said members would have been given a recommendation to approve the application.

Now councillors' refusal will form part of the evidence considered by the planning inspector who chairs the inquiry, and will be reflected in their decision, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

If approved at appeal, all buildings would be restricted to a maximum height of 24m (80ft) and would be able to cover a maximum of 200,000 sq m (2.2m sq ft).

Resident Kylie Chapman told the meeting her house would be destroyed if the plans went ahead.

She wrote: "I am the most affected by this, my family will be made homeless."

"We have been in the village for generations and my dad farmed this exact farmland when I was a child.

"This is an unallocated site in your plan, yet it is a strategic development for the tallest warehouses in Northamptonshire."

Iain Scotland, from the campaign group Staunch (Save Titchmarsh and Upper Nene Countryside and Habitats), told councillors: "The buildings will be higher than anything else on the A14 corridor and dwarf the neighbouring conservation village of Titchmarsh.

"Your own neighbourhood plan identifies Thrapston as a market town not a growth town and only small-scale appropriate developments should be considered here."

Speaking for the applicant, Newlands Developments, Jack Haddow said: "As acknowledged by the council, there is a significant shortfall of industrial and logistics space across the area and our development is well placed to assist in meeting that need.

"This will be a state-of-the-art logistics development, with all buildings constructed to the highest sustainability standards.

"The proposed buildings will be lower in height than those found on the existing Haldens Parkway industrial estate next door and they will be visually screened with landscape bunding and planting around the perimeter."

The applicant estimated it would create around 2,700 high-quality jobs and over £4m in annual business rates.

But Labour councillor William Colquhoun, who represents Corby West, said: "I think it's very heavily weighted in favour of developers, with very little consideration being given to the local environment and the residents affected by it.

"I think as a councillor I have a moral obligation and duty to put the residents and constituents way beyond commercial and possibly foreign interests."

The grounds the committee rejected the proposal on included the visual impact on the countryside and the impact on roads and protected species.

The planning inquiry is due to begin on 22 July at Thrapston council offices.

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