New warehouse is approved to support 'urgent' expansion of Telford firm
A new warehouse will be built in Telford to support an expanding business, after concerns from neighbouring firms were brushed aside by council planning officers.
Telford firm NBC Group, who supply gearbox components from their Stafford Park base, applied for permission to build a new warehouse on a patch of "poor quality grassland" next to their existing premises on Stafford Park 18 in October.
The scheme will see a single 1,750 square metre warehouse built behind the company's 30 year old works site, following approval from Telford & Wrekin planners this week.
"The business urgently needs more storage capacity to allow the demand for products to be met," said a supporting statement lodged alongside the plans.
"The proposed unit has a pitched roof design with the elevations mainly comprising a mix of vertical and horizontal cladding. The building makes use of a parcel of land that has little ecological value."
Also in their initial planning statement, NBC Group said the scale of the new building, which is taller than the firm's existing premises, would "maximise storage capacity."
However the scheme had attracted objections from neighbouring businesses, who said the height of the proposed new unit, in excess of 13 metres, would be "visually dominate" other buildings on Stafford Park.
"The proposed new unit is far too close to our 3 factory units, with fire risk and being overpowering visually for such a large 12m-13.75m building height," wrote Paul Beirne, a Director at Midland Alloy Windows on Stafford Park 17, whose premises back onto the development site.
"Such a large warehouse, being so close, would visually dominate our own units and could also be a major fire risk from radiated heat from this very large building. A recent large industrial fire at Halesfield has demonstrated this, despite cladding protection," he added.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service offered no objection on the plans.
Comments from the council's highways team confirmed that, although the parking proposals for the new building fell below the local authority's standard requirements, the local authority was "confident that the current parking provision would be enough to accommodate the proposed extension and the associated works".
Planning permission was granted subject to a number of conditions, including a scheme of surface water draininage and habitat monitoring to be submitted prior to the start of works on site.
