Norton Taylor Nunn has navigated the latest hurdle to achieving a multi-million pound expansion for one of the UKs leading food businesses on a 9 hectare site in North East Essex. The new development includes 180,000 square feet of warehouse space, as well as 14,000 square feet of office space, landscaping, an HGV operations yard for 50 vehicles and parking for 250 cars.
Norton Taylor Nunn’s planning team received a resolution to grant planning permission at a special meeting of the Tendring planning committee last week, clearing the path towards the new development just outside Colchester, in the parish of nearby Ardleigh, Essex. This development was not a speculative application, being submitted on behalf of Surya Foods, one of the country’s leading food importers and distributors.
The application, which was submitted by Beanland & Associates as Architects in March 2020, had faced significant opposition from local residents and the Parish Council, along with technical concerns relating to the impact on the highway network, landscape, heritage and residential amenity.
Working with partners, Norton Taylor Nunn shepherded the application through a number of amendments designed to improve the scheme, following robust challenge from the local planning authority. These changes were accompanied by a number of third party consultant reports, which demonstrated that the proposal met all the technical requirements of the Local Plan.
Despite a finding of landscape harm, very limited heritage harm, conflict with policy, and harm to residential amenity, these concerns were overcome when councillors were persuaded of the real and substantial benefits the warehouse and distribution centre will deliver for the local and regional economy, for the food sector in particular, and to retention and creation of jobs.
The warehouse will directly employ at least 300 people, with a further 48 jobs expected in the construction sector as a result of the development. However, 236 indirect jobs are also anticipated further down the supply chains, as a result of the significant investment and the increase in employment locally.
Norton Taylor Nunn demonstrated that this would result in £160 million in GDP growth over the next decade, and officers recommended approval when this was weighed in the planning balance.
Councillors debated the weight to be given to the alleged harms and whether these were overcome by the benefits, before voting by a narrow majority in favour of the development.
The proposals will also see 700,000 lorry miles taken off the A120 annually, with an 1100 tonne saving in carbon. Almost 700 MW hours of solar energy will be produced by a solar PV scheme on the roof of the building, while the landscaping scheme, combined with the sustainable drainage scheme, will allow for a net gain in biodiversity.
Although councillors only afforded moderate weight to the benefits in the heritage balance, they nonetheless felt they overcame the great weight given to the very limited harm alleged. They gave the benefits substantial weight in the full planning balance, narrowly overcoming the landscape harm, heritage harm, and residential amenity harm alleged by the officers report.
Construction is not expected to commence on site until October 2023, with operations commencing in late 2024 or early 2025.
