Massive 1.2m sq ft hub extension gets greenlight

Protesting villagers’ pleas are ignored as plan agreed

JOBS and investment have triumphed over residents’ protests with the approval of plans for an enormous new warehouse in Desford.

Neovia were granted permission to construct the 1.2 million sq ft storage and transport hub by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.

The £45 million expansion is to support the growth of client Jaguar Land Rover and will virtually double the industrial space off Peckleton Lane, pouring almost £1.7 million from business rates into council coffers and creating 305 jobs.

However, the site, currently open land, sits close to the boundaries of some villagers’ properties, leaving them devastated by the prospect of a building the height of four double decker buses and the size of 19 football pitches looming over them.

Protests from locals, including an impassioned plea from site neighbour Lisa Botterill at the planning committee meeting, failed to stop the application passing.

Lisa says her house is directly opposite where the new loading bay docks will be in Peckleton Lane.

She said: “Currently there is no noise from the site and we are going to be subjected to loading of lorries 90m from our front door day and night, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The visual impact of this building is going to be massive.”

She said the land was designated as an area of separation in 2012 but in July 2016 a new site allocations policy saw part of it redefined as for industrial use.

Arguing against the development due to its impact on the village, she said: “The fence and couple of trees proposed to screen the development will simply not protect us.”

Aware of residents’ concerns, not only due to scale of the development, but the increase in HGV movements, Councillor David Bill (Hinckley Clarendon) told fellow planning committee members he would seek changes to highways improvements promised in mitigation.

He told The Hinckley Times he would be urging changes to the Dans Lane/A47 which he believed would prevent lorries travelling through the village, rather than the Desford crossroads - which was in the planning conditions.

Desford has been plagued with ‘lost’ lorry drivers causing chaos as they try to navigate the narrow streets. Neovia have recognised the problem and taken action, including sending out further route information and banning firms which repeatedly flout the village roads weight restrictions.

Cllr Bill added: “I do sympathise with the villagers and I know people are unhappy but the issue we have is that for as long as I can remember we have been trying to attract large employers into the area.

“And with names such as Jaguar Land Rover being mentioned it would be very difficult for any council anywhere in the country to turn down such an application and what it brings with it. Sadly the system is not really geared up to protect residents who are caught up in such large proposals.”

Neovia, a global industrial contract logistics company dealing mainly with machinery parts, have promised highways improvements and increased signage to try and mitigate traffic troubles.

It already runs more than 1.4 million sq ft of logistics space across four warehouses on the 137 hectare plot and employs 1,062 permanent staff.