Permission Granted – Cross Boundary Planning Application For Change of Use.

Berrys has secured planning permission for the change of use of a former part garden centre and part health therapy centre to a commercial storage facility and depot with ancillary offices at a countryside site.  Our client, a major utilities and engineering contractor, was looking to relocate and establish a base within the Midlands.  The proposed site, on the A43 between Kettering and Northampton, was identified as the client’s preference due to its highly accessible and convenient location with links to the M1, A14 and A45.

However, the site also presented challenges which the planning and change of use proposals had to overcome.  The site crosses two authority areas, North Northants and West Northants.  As such, the planning application was submitted to each local authority for determination.  This meant that both local authorities considered the application for the change of use, and applied two sets of planning policies as part of the assessment of the proposals.  In addition, the change of use proposals raised issues in terms of impact on highways, flood risk and drainage, neighbouring amenity and landscape visual amenity.

Due to the multi-disciplinary services Berrys were able to provide, including managing the entire application and process, from inception, through the preliminary enquiry and planning application stages, to provide two planning permissions which cover the entire site.  Berrys in-house expertise including providing the detailed architectural drawings and plans, highways and drainage assessments and planning statement which thoroughly and robustly justified the change of use proposals.  Richard Harman provided the expert drainage and highways assessments, Dan Hawkes prepared the drawings and plans and Ian Taylor handled the planning application and whose work resulted in a successful outcome and a very happy client.

If you have any office, commercial or industrial development proposals, please do not hesitate to contact your nearest Berrys planning team based in our Hereford, Kettering, Oxford or Shrewsbury offices.