15/2/2008

News in Farnborough

Council being ‘burdened’ by Pyestock plans

Local MPs have accused the developers behind plans to build a massive warehouse of “burdening” a council and residents with multiple planning applications.

Fleet’s Tory MP James Arbuthnot and his Farnborough colleague Gerald Howarth are unhappy that joint developers Prupim and Astral have submitted four different applications for a mega-depot on the former Pyestock site.

Last week, the developer caused uproar among campaigners by announcing it had appealed to the government on the grounds of Hart District Council’s non-determination of an outline planning application for the former Ministry of Defence site between Fleet and Farnborough.

It means a decision on the controversial plan will now be taken out of the hands of the local authority and made on behalf of or by Hazel Blears, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

The developer says it had taken the decision to appeal “reluctantly” after submitting its original outline application in February 2005.

But Mr Howarth said: “Prupim and Astral are placing huge burdens on Hart District Council and local residents.

“The detailed planning application they submitted on Christmas Eve — with more warehouses and HGVs — is the fourth different planning application they have outstanding for the Pyestock site.

“And then the day after the fourth different consultation period ended the developers are trying to say that the process is taking too long.”

Mr Arbuthnot added: “These multiple applications are draining resources at Hart District Council and for local residents, who don’t want a mega-shed on their doorstep and thousands on HGV trundling through their local streets.”

Just over 4,000 objections had been recorded on Hart District Council’s planning website by last Wednesday’s official deadline.

Among those fighting the plan is SPLAT (Stop Pyestock bLot Act today), a non-political campaigning group.

SPLAT spokeswoman Shan Healey warned that if agreed, the latest application’s capping agreement would allow for thousands of cars, white vans, medium-size trucks and heavy lorries.

She said: “The 9,000 additional vehicles per day, including 1,000 HGVs, would bring traffic around Junction 4a of the M3 to a standstill for several hours a day and cause dangerous backing up on the motorway. The Highways Agency has admitted in writing that junction 4a is at capacity now and local residents know this only too well.”

SPLAT member Bob Schofield warned that adding thousands of extra vehicles a day to already congested local and regional roads would add considerable carbon emissions and creates harmful greenhouse gases.

He said: “It is pointless for PRUPIM to clean up the site and remove some soil contamination only to re-pollute it with huge amounts of carbon emissions, which would put at risk the health of communities.”

Mr Schofield warned that noise levels during construction of the mega-depot, which could last for six years, would be 110 decibels at source — equivalent to being in the front row of a rock concert.

Mr Schofield said Hart District Council’s Local Plan recognises that the site is in the strategic gap between Fleet, Farnborough and Aldershot.

He added: “It insists that the open rural character of the area should be maintained and that there should be no significant increase in floor space within the site.

“A mega-depot full of giant, six-storey illuminated sheds would totally urbanise the area and the developers seek to concrete over almost all of the site, almost doubling the floor space.”

Prupim and Astral said it submitted its original outline planning application in February 2005 and a year later, Hart District Council’s planning officers recom-mended the scheme be approved.

However, councillors on the planning committee deferred the application, requesting further consultation.

Following the consultation, Prupim and Astral submitted amendments in December 2006 but the council refused to accept them, claiming that the changes — which included a reduction in the overall size of the scheme — were too significant to be considered as amendments.

A revised outline planning application was submitted in March 2007.
Meanwhile, the detailed planning application, which was lodged on Christmas Eve, remains with Hart District Council to determine.

Steven Moss, project director for PRUPIM, said the decision to appeal its March 2007 outline planning appli-cation had been taken “reluctantly”.

He added: “We would have much preferred to find an agreement at a local level and that is why we have spent three years working with the council and revising our plans.

“Our current application has been with the council for almost a year.

“We met with the council’s planning officers just before the Christmas break but were given no certainty on when the council would consider the proposals.”

Mr Moss said he recognised that the application has generated opposition from local residents but believes that there is a very strong planning case for it.

He added: “There is a strong need for distribution facilities within the south east, where the country’s largest consumer market is located.

“The proposals will clean up this contaminated site and bring it back into more productive use.”

First printed in: Farnborough News and Mail