Fruit packing firm wins bid for buildings
Plans for a 200,000 sq ft fruit packing facility and office development near Maidstone look set to be given the green light at a planning meeting this week.
Berry Gardens, a £318 millionturnover berry and stone fruit production and marketing group, is seeking full planning permission to develop a 150,000 sq ft storage and packaging building, along with office premises totalling almost 50,000 sq ft of space, at Wares Farm, Linton.
If the application is approved, the company plans to relocate from its existing Wares Farm operation – which lies north of the proposal site and is owned by logistics and distribution company Alan Firmin – and from its current head office in Five Oak Green.
Berry Gardens was established more than 40 years ago and now has a market share of more than 30 per cent in the UK. It generated sales of £318m in 2016.
In a Maidstone Borough Council report published ahead of the meeting tonight (Thursday), planning officers have recommended the scheme for approval subject to planning conditions and a Section 106 legal agreement.
In the report, officers argued that the development will secure a substantial number of existing jobs and generate new employment opportunities in the future, as well as a range of other economic benefits.
They added that although the scheme will result in landscape harm to the countryside, this will be reduced over the medium and longer term by a “comprehensive landscape mitigation strategy”, which will be secured by Section 106 agreement.
The application attracted objections from Linton and Hunton Parish Councils.