ITEM 1 Application DC/074399 Reference Location: Land Bounded By Ashton Road, The River Tame, Turner Lane And Bredbury Industrial Estate PROPOSAL: Part A: Outline planning permission with all matters reserved for the creation of a commercial/industrial development providing up to 53,327 sqm of B2/B8 employment floor space (including ancillary office accommodation) along with the provision of other associated infrastructure (including internal plot access, roads, parking, footpaths, internal landscaping and the provision of a car park to serve Stockport Sports Village). Part B: Full planning permission for the creation of two commercial/industrial units comprising 39,857 sqm (including ancillary office accommodation), strategic landscaping, the widening and realignment of Bredbury Park Way and the relocation of its junction with Ashton Road, along with the provision of other associated infrastructure (including access, parking and internal landscaping). Type Of Outline Application Application: Registration 10.02.2020 Date: Expiry Date: 20200511 Case Officer: Rebecca Andison Applicant: Quorum Estates Limited, Edmund Hargreaves Ogden, Joanne L... Agent: Lichfields COMMITTEE STATUS Under the Council’s adopted scheme of delegation this planning application is deemed strategic in nature and comprises EIA Development, as such the application is firstly referred to Werneth Area Committee and Central Area Committee for comments in advance of consideration by Planning and Highways Regulation Committee. If members are minded to grant planning permission the application will need to be referred to the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government to give him the opportunity to determine the application due to the application being major development within the Green Belt. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT The application contains detailed and outline elements and is submitted as a Hybrid planning application. Each component part is described in detail below: Detailed element Full planning permission is sought for the erection of two commercial/industrial units comprising 39,857 sqm of B2/B8 floorspace (including ancillary office accommodation), a new access road into the site from Bredbury Parkway, the widening and realignment of Bredbury Parkway and the construction of a relocated junction with Ashton Road. The detailed element also includes internal estate roads and the provision of a significant landscape buffer in the north eastern part of the site. The larger of the two units would have a gross external area of 27,479 sqm. It includes 1,376 sqm of ancillary office accommodation and staff facilities. The second unit measures 12,378 sqm with 576 sqm of ancillary office/staff accommodation. The units would be positioned within the western part of the site, adjacent to the existing eastern boundary of the employment area and next to the access from Bredbury Parkway. There would be car parking at the side of each unit and trailer parking at the front. A new access would be created from Bredbury Parkway with an internal estate road running north to serve the two units. Both units have shallow pitched roofs, with a ridge height of 22.09m for unit 1 and 19.16m for unit 2. They would be clad in a mixture of horizontally and vertically laid cladding with contrasting materials for the ancillary office accommodation and to highlight the entrances. The office accommodation features curtain wall glazing and strip windows and there would panels of contrasting cladding to break up the elevations. A gatehouse is proposed on the access road between the two buildings. This is a single storey building (24 sqm) finished in grey cladding with a mono- pitched roof. A new priority-controlled access is proposed from Bredbury Park Way. This provides one lane to enter the site, two lanes to exit and a pedestrian refuge. A pedestrian footway is proposed on the southern side of the access and a cycleway/footway would be provided along the northern side. Landscape buffer zones are proposed along the north eastern boundary with the River Tame and the boundaries with Bredbury Parkway and Ashton Road. Outline element Outline planning permission with all matters reserved is sought for a commercial/industrial development providing up to 53,327 sqm of B2/B8 floorspace. Associated infrastructure including new roads, car parks, landscaping, footpaths and a car park to serve Stockport Sports Village is also proposed. A parameters plan has been submitted to establish the broad parameters for the outline part of the proposal. This sets the minimum and maximum building heights, landscape butter zones, finished floor levels and the location of a dedicated car park to serve Stockport Sports Village. Up to 40% of the development would be used for B2 floorspace and between 60 and 100% for B8 floorspace. The minimum unit size would be 4,500 sqm. A car park to serve the Sports Village, funded by the applicant, would be located adjacent to the southeast boundary to allow a footpath link to be created onto Turner Lane. Buildings within the south eastern part of the site adjacent to Castle Hill Park would not exceed 19.5m in height, and there is a small pocket of land adjacent to Stockport Sports village where the height to ridge would be restricted to a maximum of 16.5m. The entire northern half of the site located beyond Units 1 and 2 would be subject to a maximum height to ridge of 19.5 metres. The parameters plan includes a landscape buffer zone around the boundaries of the site. The detailed landscape scheme would be agreed when an application is made for the approval of reserved matters. The site is crossed by a number of public rights of way. These would be retained where possible or diverted through landscaped areas within the site. The section of Turner Land which connects Ashton Road to Stockport Sports Village would be diverted and upgraded to a public bridleway. Background A planning application seeking outline planning permission for up to 116,129 sqm of B2/B8 floorspace was originally submitted in August 2019. In February 2020, the scope of this application was amended in order to seek detailed approval for 39,857 sqm, with outline approval sought for up to a further 76,272 sqm (totalling 116,129 sqm). The scope of the current application has been further varied to reduce the quantum of development and facilitate the creation of a larger landscape buffer between the site and the River Tame. This has reduced the net developed area within the site to 21.46 ha, a circa. 15% reduction over the Initial submission. It has resulted in a 20% reduction in the quantum of proposed floorspace, with approval now sought for a total up to 93,184 sqm. The reduction in floorspace and site area has been proposed to reduce harm to the Green Belt. In addition to the reduction in floor space, the revised scheme has resulted in a significant increase to the landscape buffer between the site and the River Tame. The buffer has increased from 10m on the initial scheme to over 50m in width in the proposal now before you. Submission Summary The application is accompanied by an Environmental Statement (ES), which includes chapters on the following environmental effects: Highways Noise and vibration Air Quality Flood risk and drainage Biodiversity Ground conditions Landscape and visual impact Arboriculture Socio-economics The ES has been supplemented during the course of the application process with further information including a revised Biodiversity Chapter (January 2021). The following documents have also been submitted in support of the application: Crime Impact Statement Planning statement Design and Access Statement Employment and Skills Note Energy Statement Utilities Statement Agricultural Land Use Classification Historic Environment Desk-based Assessment Mineral Resource Assessment Statement of Community Involvement Lighting Assessment Ecological Assessment Badger Survey and Mitigation Strategy DESCRIPTION OF THE SITE AND SURROUNDINGS The site extends to approximately 30.90 hectares and is located immediately to the north of Bredbury Park Industrial Estate within the wards of Bredbury and Woodley. The site is bounded by the River Tame to the north east which marks the boundary between Stockport and Tameside. Beyond the Tame Valley is the predominantly residential area of Haughton Green. The Botany Mill Site of Biological Importance lies between the south bank of the River Tame and the north east boundary of the site. Part of the site’s north west boundary is located adjacent to Ashton Road and the remainder abuts agricultural land. Ashton Road runs north from Junction 25 of the M60 and connects Bredbury to Denton, which lies approximately 600m to the north of the site. Bredbury Park Way joins Ashton Road approximately 800m from the northernmost roundabout of the M60 junction. Buildings on Ashton Road close to the site include Castle Croft Kennels, the Arden Arms public house and Horse Shoe Farm. Castle Hill Farm House is a grade II Listed Building and currently in residential use. The agricultural land to the north west is bounded by Arden Road which connects Ashton Road with Turner Lane. Turner Lane runs along the sites north eastern boundary linking Ashton Road with Mill Lane in the east. The area to the south east of the site is predominantly residential in character. On the west side of Mill Lane, adjacent to the sites south east boundary, is Castle Hill Residential Park, and there are further residential properties on Lowick Green immediately to the south. Stockport Sports Village lies to the north east of the site, at the junction of Mill Lane and Turner lane. The site’s southern boundary is adjacent to Bredbury Park Way and units within the existing industrial estate. With the exception of a strip of land adjacent to Bredbury Park Way, the application site is located wholly within the greenbelt as defined by the Stockport Unitary Development Plan.