Office scheme is back before council, a year on from refusal
UP WITH A REVISED PLAN FOR SAME SITE
FIRM COMES
PLANS for an office block to be built on fields outside a village are back – a year after similar ones were refused.
The plans, which have been submitted by Golby+Luck, call for an office block to be built in Moor Lane in Swannington.
A similar plan was turned down because it was “unnecessary” and “without justification”.
The applicants, who are landscape architects, said the move would offer them the chance to expand and create jobs.
If granted, the latest plans would see the office block built between Loughborough Road and Moor Lane.
It would overlook the Circle Garage and see junction improvements made to the A512 at Moor Lane.
Golby+Luck, which is based in Ibstock, said the plans would help create six jobs – something it believes North West Leicestershire District Council should take into consideration.
“The family has long-established links with North West Leicestershire, having run family businesses from Ravenstone and Coleorton since the 1950s,” the planning documents said.
“The proposal will allow the business to expand up to 12 employees in the Midlands, doubling the size of the business and creating jobs in the district.
“This may be a small level of growth, but it is no less important than larger growth secured by larger-scale businesses.”
Last year, the council disputed the employment gains to be made from the previous similar application, citing issues with the location of the scheme, too.
“The proposal would not constitute a small-scale employment generating development and therefore, would not accord with... the Local Plan and would result in the unnecessary development of a greenfield site in the countryside without justification,” they said.
For the new plan, Golby+Luck reduced the size of the office to an internal size of 149sq metres.
It said that the office block will also “present first and foremost” as something usually seen in rural settings, with only “detailing” revealing its office work nature.
While conceding that it could have considered other options for a new office, Golby+Luck said that there “is little on the market and none that suit the requirements of the practice in the locality”.