Storage firm will fight to stay on ‘insensitive’ Preston site after planning refusal
A firm that set up a storage facility in Preston before getting planning permission says it will try to address “concerns” about the venture after city council officials ruled it would have to go.
Cuboid Self Storage has been refused retrospective approval for its conversion of the former Perrys Motor Village site on Blackpool Road in Ribbleton. Town hall planners concluded that the dual-use development – made up of shipping containers and vehicle storage space – was “wholly at odds” with the surrounding area.
The plot had been derelict for almost a decade when work on the land began last summer – but a planning application was not registered with Preston City Council until mid-November.
The authority has now assessed and rejected the proposal, branding it “insensitive, poorly designed, disproportionate and intrusive”. But Cuboid has indicated it will try again to secure permission by submitting a revised application for the site, which sits alongside the Tesco store on the busy route and was last in use in June 2016.
The company’s original blueprint involved installing 115 shipping containers – only a fraction of which have so far been put in place – and creating five storage yards to house vehicles.
A report by planning officials outlining their reasons for rejecting the proposal stated that the intended layout of the containers – the vast majority of which were to be 20-feet long – would have given “the appearance of a steel wall” almost eight feet tall along the roadside..
That would, they added, have created “a dramatic, oppressive and solid enclosure, which is wholly insensitive to and at odds with the scale, design and open nature of the surrounding residential and commercial character”.
A contrast was also drawn between the “high-quality appearance” of the vehicles being marketed for sale in the site’s previous guise and the type now proposed to be stored there, which “appear to be abandoned, neglected or awaiting preparation for re-spray”.
Responding to the refusal of permission, a spokesperson for Cuboid Self Storage - which has more than 30 facilities across the country - told the Lancashire Post: “Naturally we’re disappointed with the decision and will be reviewing our options as we believe we can address the matters raised.
“This site was once occupied by Perrys Motor Village, but had been derelict for several years, causing serious anti-social behavioural issues.
“There’s a significant demand for external storage space within the local area and we’ve been using the site for a mix of self-storage containers and car storage. We look forward to being able to work with Preston City Council to listen to their concerns and come up with solutions via a revised application.”
Four objections were lodged to the plans, including one from the authority’s deputy leader, Cllr Martyn Rawlinson.