South Ribble storage and distribution site 'could create 1,000 new jobs'

Plans for a major new storage, distribution and industrial complex on the Farington Hall estate have moved a step closer after South Ribble Borough Council’s planning committee granted outline permission for the scheme.

Members heard that Caddick Developments Limited, the firm behind the project, is already in “ongoing conversations” with a range of public and private sector organisations interested occupying the proposed units, located close to the Lancashire Business Park off Centurion Way. It believes that the development will generate an extra £66m of “economic value” to South Ribble every year.

Work could start on the 612,500 square feet of floorspace by the middle of the year - but the company still has another planning hurdle to clear first, at which it will have to convince the committee that it has suitable mitigation measures in place to prevent noise disturbance to nearby residents and ensure that its plans do not increase the risk of flooding in the area.

Farington West ward councillor Karen Walton told the planning meeting that she wanted to see the impact of the development reduced to “an absolute minimum”.

“There are big flooding problems already from the River Lostock. The properties in Bispham Avenue have already experienced flooding...and the stability of the banking alongside their [homes] is compromised during heavy rainfall.

“The residents in this area have already been subject to the impact of the Lancashire Waste Technology Park and are very concerned that there will be another substantial impact on their quality of life from this proposed development - especially when it is predicted to be working 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Cllr Walton warned.

The Environment Agency is currently objecting to the plans, but says that this can be overcome at the next stage of the planning process by the submission of a new flood risk assessment which demonstrates that the site will be “safe for its lifetime without increasing risk elsewhere”.

The council’s environmental health team has also said that an acoustic assessment of the impact on nearby properties must be submitted and suggests that delivery areas are located on the screened side of the buildings.

However, planning agent Nick Pleasant told councillors that a “thorough public consultation” had been carried out, the results of which had been used to inform the proposals.

He said that the applicant would continue to work with council officers to “deliver a lasting beneficial legacy in the area”.

"There could be the creation of over 1,000 full-time equivalent jobs and a range of roles available to the community.

“The proposal will enable the employment-led regeneration of a site which is allocated for employment use in the [borough’s] local plan - and these uses can deliver major benefits to Farington, the local community and, more widely, South Ribble.

“[Caddick Developments] have a proven track record of delivering these best-in-class developments on technically complex sites such as this and, particularly, sites where others have been unable to deliver.

“There is a significant unmet demand for new commercial floorspace in this area,” Mr Pleasant added.

He also told the committee that as part of the plans, the firm had committed to completing a “key section of the Leyland Loop” - the long planned cycleway in the area.

Although the site in its current form is popular with dog-walkers, Mr. Pleasant told the committee that it was “unwelcoming outside of daytime hours and known to attract anti-social behaviour, particularly close to the public rights of way".

Committee member Cllr Mary Green said that she was “ all for” a development that brought employment into the area, but appealed for the company to “design this site with consideration for the residents".

Cllr John Hesketh added that he “always prefers to have something occupied rather than empty”.

The site is considered a derelict brownfield plot and was previously used as landfill for inert foundry waste.

The application was approved unanimously. Approval for more detailed proposals will be sought at the "reserved matters" stage at a later date.

WHICH WAY?

The planned development has reignited long-running concerns over the route taken by HGVs in the area to access the M6.

Councillors and locals have previously called for them to be routed via junction 29 at Cuerden to divert them away from the roads around Leyland that lead to junction 28.

As part of the outline permission, access has been approved to the new site via Centurion Way, to the south east of the development. and Enterprise Drive to the north.

Cllr Walton said she wanted to see vehicles use the Enterprise Drive access and take the A582 to the more northern of the two motorway junctions - not "travel along already heavily-congested roads in Leyland".

Lancashire County Council's highways officers said that the proposed access points were acceptable - but that the authority would not be adopting the new roads as they did not connect to an existing adopted highway.