Storage company hasn't got permission for 91 containers on land near Bygone Times in Eccleston
The former industrial units were demolished in January and the containers began arriving on site in March.
A storage company does not have the correct planning permission for 91 containers placed on land close to Bygone Times in Eccleston.
Cuboid Self Storage Ltd has now applied to Chorley Borough Council (CBC) to retain use of the land- formerly industrial units - for the single-level units and with associated car parking spaces, fencing and gates.
The former Building Themes International complex in units A and B of Grove Park Industrial Estate, The Green, were demolished in January and the self-storage use commenced on March 30, with works completed on April 6. Existing commercial buildings - including Bygone Times and Designer Radiator Showroom - and service areas lie to the west and north-west, with further buildings adjoining to the east.
Residential properties front The Green and Langton Brow on higher ground to the north and north-east. Syd Brook, a designated main river, runs along the southern side of the application land.
The development provides individual secure storage units for households and businesses. It comprises:
- One 40 ft container
- 87 20 ft containers
- Three 6 ft containers;
There is a total storage floor area of 1,319 m² , with three standard car parking spaces, one accessible space and two cycle spaces. There is a 2m-tall green weld-mesh perimeter fencing and controlled gates. Containers are arranged in regular perimeter and internal rows around circulation aisles. Customers enter by vehicle and stop for a short period directly outside their allocated unit to load or unload.
There are no permanent employees on the site and no retail showroom or staffed warehouse operation. A planning statement says: “Customer visits are intermittent and normally of limited duration.”
Access is proposed between 7am and 9pm, seven days a week, including bank holidays.
The statement adds: “All containers are single level. The development is materially lower than the demolished industrial units and sits comfortably below the ridge heights of nearby commercial and residential buildings....The containers are single-level painted steel units finished green. Their low height and repeated modular form create substantially less bulk than the demolished industrial buildings.”
The company’s agent argued that the principle of a B8 storage use is acceptable, saying: “The site is previously developed land within the Eccleston settlement and an established employment complex. The proposal returns cleared land to productive economic use without encroaching into the countryside and without requiring new buildings of comparable scale to those demolished.”
They add: “The development also represents an interim and reversible form of use. The modular units can be removed without prejudicing a future comprehensive redevelopment of the wider allocation.”
A decision will be made in coming weeks by CBC.
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