Councillors said their hands were once again tied due to a bizarre rule from 1957
Where the new warehouses near Severn Beach will be built(Image: Google )
Plans for yet more massive warehouses have been approved near homes on the outskirts of Bristol in a community blighted by a bizarre 70-year-old rule. For seven decades developers have had carte blanche to build warehouses along Severnside to the dismay of local residents.
British Airways Pension Fund has been given permission by South Gloucestershire Council to build warehouses on two plots of land just south of Severn Beach, along Severn Road. The pension fund applied for “reserved matters”, which specifies the layout and appearance.
Councillors on the development management committee voted to approve these details “with a heavy heart” on Thursday, May 28. However they lamented that their hands were tied by a blanket planning permission from 1957 which applies to the wider area, creating a free-for-all.
This rule means that developers already have outline consent, and don’t need to apply to the council for planning permission to build new developments. They just need to apply for so-called reserved matters, and councillors have little choice but to approve these — at least for now.
James Hicks, a planning agent representing the pension fund, said: “The 1957 permission does not look like, or have the controls of, a modern 21st-century planning permission. However, that does not mean that it is not lawful. The need for space of this size and type is as real as the validity of the 1957 permission.”
He added that “more than one operator” was ready to rent out the warehouses once they were built. However local residents have questioned whether the demand is still there for warehouses, given that others in the wider area have been left empty.
The tallest warehouse will be 18.5 metres high, equivalent to a six-storey block of flats. Other buildings will be 12.5 metres high, which is around four storeys tall. Council planning officers denied that the new buildings would be “mega sheds”, similar to recently built ones nearby. The buildings will be clad in “varying shades of grey metal”. 328 car parking spaces are planned too.
Pressure is growing to scrap the 1957 permission. Earlier in May, councillors agreed to write to the government, urging them to help change the rules. More than 3,000 petitioners have added their voices to scrap the permission. Usually, developers have to consider the impact on local people and infrastructure when they construct new buildings.
But back in 1957, there was less thought given to how new developments would affect the local area. Gloucestershire County Council granted a wide-ranging planning permission to encourage a chemical manufacturing company to develop Severnside, as part of efforts to rebuild the economy after the Second World War. And residents living nearby are still living with its impacts.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Chris Willmore, cabinet member for planning, regeneration and infrastructure, said: “It isn’t a mega shed. But it is in the green buffer, and that green buffer has enormous historical significance to the local community.
“That’s the edge that gave them the guaranteed bit of space between whatever may get built on the industrial land and the residents of Severn Beach. It’s heartbreaking for the residents and for many of us who tried over the years to resolve the ‘57 consent. This is done with a heavy heart.”