Council will not fight against planning appeal for 11-hectare warehousing zone in Northamptonshire town
West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has said it will not fight against a planning appeal for an 11-hectare business and warehousing zone after similar plans for a massive DHL site were approved.
WNC’s planning committee rejected proposals to develop the land next to the Bell Plantation garden centre in Towcester in November 2024. An appeal was later submitted by the applicant Alban Mann LLP to call in an inspector to reassess the plans.
At the same time, an appeal was ongoing for a large 32-hectare warehouse development, led by DHL, next to the Bell Plantation site off the A5. Despite ferocious campaigning and a gruelling nine-day public inquiry into the controversial plans, fought by WNC and Save Towcester Now, the inspectorate ruled that the logistics hub should be approved.
On Tuesday, April 22, WNC called on its strategic planning committee to discuss its case for the Bell Plantation development appeal, which is set to go to a public inquiry on June 3. Planning officer Daniel Callis told members that the sites form part of the same employment zone allocation and had “very significant crossover” for their refusal reasons.
The committee was told that in light of the decision on the adjoining DHL appeal, the authority’s refusal reasons of visual impacts and highway matters were “no longer sustainable”. Planning documents stated that the authority therefore intended to make a “no case to answer submission” and withdraw its reasons for refusal.
Councillor Charles Manners criticised issues raised in the DHL appeal, where he said policies from the council’s core strategies weren’t properly transferred to the allocated employment sites.
He added: “If we’d have been firmer in that interpretation, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in now. I deeply regret that.
“We’ve clearly got to support this because we lost the appeal.”
Councillor Bob Purser agreed, saying that the council needs to learn from the developments and that they were “clearly let down” by previous planning policies.
All members voted unanimously for WNC to withdraw its reasons for refusal from the appeal and make no submissions against the plans.
According to the report, it is anticipated that the public inquiry will still proceed, but with a greatly reduced timetable. Instead, it will focus on hearing from members of the public and discussing conditions and S106 obligations for the development.
WNC says the Inspector will advise on the inquiry further once they submit their ‘no contest’ decision.