BOROUGH OF DARLINGTON PLANNING APPLICATIONS COMMITTEE Committee Date – 30 June 2004 SCHEDULE OF APPLICATIONS FOR CONSIDERATION Background Papers used in compiling this Schedule:- 1) Letters and memoranda in reply to consultations. 2) Letters of objection and representation from the public. Index of applications contained in this Schedule are as follows:- Page Address/Site Location Reference Number Policies Faverdale East Business Park 03/00340/RM1 E2, E7, E11, E13, E14, E16, E23, E24, E28, E29, E34, E45, E48, EP1, EP3, EP6, EP7,T2, T7, T12, T13, T36, T37, T40, R2, H15 Queen Street Shopping Arcade 04/00388/OUT E2, E10, E12, E14, E16, E27, E28, E29, E33, E35, E46, E47, E48, EP11.5, S1, S2, T12, T13, T19, T24, T37, T38 Eastbourne Service Station, Yarm Road 04/00231/FUL E16,E29, E46, E47, T2, T13, T24, T31, S10, S11, S18 Topoli Joe’s, 172-176 Northgate 04/00137/CU R25, S9, E35, T24 206 North Road 04/00578/FUL E29, E38, H15 5A The Spinney, Middleton St George 04/00481/OUT E2,E16, H3, H7, H11, T24 37 Middleham Road 04/00453/FUL H12 8 Heathrow Close, Middleton St George 04/00480/FUL H12 25 Church Lane, Middleton St George 04/00420/FUL H12, E35 Eastbourne Nursery School 04/00496/DC H15, EP13, T14 Dodmire School 04/00206/DC E46, H15, R1, R2, R11, R20 DARLINGTON BOROUGH COUNCIL PLANNING APPLICATIONS COMMITTEE COMMITTEE DATE: 30 June 2004 Page APPLICATION REF. NO: 03/00340/RM1 STATUTORY DECISION DATE: 17 June 2004 WARD/PARISH: FAVERDALE LOCATION: Faverdale East Business Park, Faverdale, Darlington, DESCRIPTION: Details of siting design & external appearance means of access & landscaping of new distribution centre associated offices & maintenance facilities pursuant to Outline Application 03/340/OUTE (19/11/03) amended by plans rec'd 11 & 18/05/04 APPLICANT: ARGOS LIMITED APPLICATION AND SITE DESCRIPTION Faverdale East Business Park is a 35.5 hectare site located to the north west of the town, to the east of High Faverdale Farm and to the north of the Faverdale Industrial Estate. Grange Park, a recently developed housing estate lies to the south west of the site. Outline planning permission was granted for a business park, comprising a mix of B1 (Business), B2 (General Industry) and B8 (Warehouse) the site known as Faverdale East in November 2003. Permission was also granted for internal access roads and plot details for Phase 1 of the site, which is the south eastern portion of the site. At the time outline planning permission was granted, it was anticipated that the site would be developed in two phases, with the development of Phase 1, taking up to 10 years. Work has commenced on installing the approved Phase 1 infrastructure, however the site otherwise remains undeveloped and is still in agricultural use. This is a reserved matters application relating to the erection of a new distribution centre, associated offices and maintenance facilities for Argos Direct, the home delivery branch of the Argos group, on Phase 2 of the site. This is the north western portion of Faverdale East Business Park which extends to approximately 19.5 hectares in area. Details of the siting, design and external appearance, means of access and landscaping of the distribution centre have been submitted for consideration. The main component of the site will be a 62,828 square metre distribution warehouse with a goods in office (1,538 square metres over two floors) and a despatch office (1,036 square metres over two floors) attached to its north western and south eastern sides respectively. The main offices associated with the distribution centre are to adjoin the south western end of the warehouse, and will be two storeys in height providing a further 2,864 square metres of office space. A single storey 18m x 41m ancillary office is also proposed. Access to the site is to be gained via a spur road off an existing roundabout on the Cross Town Route. The internal access roads serving the application site are generally as approved by the APPLICATION REFERENCE NO 03/00340/RM1 PAGE outline planning permission, however a modest reconfiguration of the western most access road into the site is proposed, given the size of the building, to enable separate accesses into the site for lorries and cars in the south west corner. A total of 550 car parking spaces, 50 cycle spaces and 20 motorbike spaces are to be provided within an area to the west of the building. Along the northern and southern edges of the site a total of 166 lorry parking spaces are to be provided, with a further 26 trailer parking spaces provided parallel to the eastern end of the warehouse building. 56 loading docks are to be provided along the southern side of the building for the despatch of goods, with a further 36 loading docks along the northern side in association with the goods-in operation. A detached Vehicle Maintenance Unit (VMU) is to be sited in the north western corner of the site. The application falls into the category of major development by virtue of the size of the proposed building. A full Environmental Statement was submitted with the outline planning application, together with a Traffic Assessment; Green Travel Plan (Draft); Ground Investigation Report; Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Appraisal; Environmental Masterplan and Archaeological Evaluation. There is however no requirement to submit a further Environmental Statement with a reserved matters application, although a supplementary Traffic Assessment and a Noise Impact Assessment have been submitted with this application. The applicants' agents have advised that the continuing growth of Argos Direct has necessitated the need to review the company's distribution network. As part of this strategy a new regional distribution centre is required to be located in the North East of England. The distribution centre is planned to primarily support deliveries to Scotland, Northern England and Northern Ireland. The warehouse will deliver a range of 'delivery only' products such as beds, sofas, leisure equipment etc. to Argos Direct customers. The warehouse and associated offices will operate on a 24 hour/7 days per week basis, with a three shift pattern. It is anticipated that in the order of 700 jobs will be created by the development in a range of warehouse, clerical and management positions. During any one shift the maximum number of staff on site will be 257 warehouse/goods in staff and 55 clerical and management staff. PLANNING HISTORY 03/00340/OUTE - Outline planning application for Business Park consisting of a mix of B1 (Business) B2 (General Industry) and B8 (Warehouse) uses with supporting infrastructure. APPROVED IN OUTLINE 19 November 2003. PLANNING POLICY BACKGROUND The following policies in the development plan are relevant: Tees Valley Structure Plan 2004 (TVSP) Economy EMP2, EMP5, EMP6 Environment ENV7, ENV10, ENV16, ENV17, ENV18 Transport T4, T5, T6, T20, T24A, T25, T26, T27 APPLICATION REFERENCE NO 03/00340/RM1 PAGE Borough of Darlington Local Plan (BDLP) E2 - Development Limits E7 - Landscape Conservation E11 - Conservation of Trees, Woodlands and Hedgerows E13 - Tree Preservation Orders E14 - Landscaping of Development E16 - Appearance from Main Travel Routes E23 - Nature and Development E24 - Conservation of Land and Other Resources E28 - Surface Water and Development E29 - The Setting of New Development E34 - Archaeological Sites of Local Importance E45 - Development and Art E48 - Noise Generating/Polluting Development EP1 - Land Supply for Employment EP3 - New Employment Areas EP6 - Prestige Employment EP7 - Office/Business Park Development T2 - Highway and Transport Management - New Development T7 - Traffic Management and Main Roads T12 - New Development - Road Capacity T13 - New Development - Standards T36 - Cycle Route Network T37 - Cycle Routes in New Development T40 - New Development and Lorries R2 - Access for People with Disabilities H15 - The Amenity of Residential Areas The site is adjacent to the already built part of the Cross Town Route, and land safeguarded for the section connecting this with the Eastern Transport Corridor. RESULTS OF CONSULTATION AND PUBLICITY Four letters of objection have been received which raise the following concerns: • Increased traffic at peak times around the roundabout at the access to Faverdale from the A68 at the rear of High Grange, which is already horrendous between 08:00 and 09:15 weekdays. • Increase of HGVs to and from Faverdale Industrial Estate passing the rear of my property on a 24 hour basis. • Is there any proposals to extend the development further south towards the rear of the housing opposite the business park? • Have an existing noise complaint with the Aldi warehouse since May 2001 which is being dealt with by the Environmental Health Department. Noise has started to relent but feel the Argos development will increase the noise back to an unacceptable level if 24 hour operating licence is granted. • Aldi HGV delivery trucks use the main access road to the new industrial estate as a wagon park. At times the road is down to one lane. With more traffic on this road the noise will increase with traffic stopping and starting, especially on the access roundabout. APPLICATION REFERENCE NO 03/00340/RM1 PAGE • Concerned regarding the loss of a Greenfield site due to new development. Under the impression that Central Government discourages this type of development on such sites. • There would be an opportunity to build this site further east between the current Faverdale Industrial Estate and Darlington Rolling Mills, thereby not encroaching on any residential areas. • Already suffer a constant drone from the Aldi site, especially on an evening. Will now have to endure further noise pollution which we consider unacceptable. • Proposed scale of development not clear in the description of the initial outline application. Would have strongly opposed the initial application had been aware of the full implications.