Planning Appeal Statement of Case Corley Motorway Service Area (northbound) On behalf of the Appellant: Welcome Break Group Ltd December 2017 (LPA ref. PAP/2017/0104) Smith Jenkins Ltd 30A High Street, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, MK11 1AF Tel: 01908 410422 Appeal Statement: Corley Motorway Service Area, M6 Motorway, North Warwickshire Contents 1 Introduction 2 2 Site and Surroundings 3 3 Appeal Scheme 5 4 Background and Chronology of Planning Application 7 5 Planning Policy 11 6 The Case on behalf of the Appellant 13 Appendix 1 Decision Notice Appendix 2 Pre-Application Discussions Appendix 3 Email and letter to Case Officer 4th September 2017 Appendix 4 Road Haulage Association Letter of Support September 2017 Appendix 5 Email to Council 23rd October 2017 Appendix 6 Email to Case Officer 3rd November 2017 Appendix 7 Letter from Welcome Break 6th November 2017 Appendix 8 Core Strategy Policy Extract Appendix 9 Statement to Parliament Rt Hon John Hayes MP Appendix 10 Committee Reports Appendix 11 West Midlands Green Belt Review Study – Parcel KY3 extract Appendix 12 Aerial Photographs of HGV Parking Area Appendix 13 Article from Craig Tracey MP website Appendix 14 Email to Case Officer 2nd October 2017 Smith Jenkins 1 Appeal Statement: Corley Motorway Service Area, M6 Motorway, North Warwickshire 1 Introduction 1.1 This appeal is made against the refusal of planning permission for the change of use of land for the creation of 63 HGV parking spaces adjacent to the existing Corley Motorway Service Area, M6 Motorway, North Warwickshire. The application was submitted to North Warwickshire District Council on 1st March 2017 (under Application Reference: PAP/2017/0104). 1.2 The application was refused planning permission by the Planning and Development Board and a decision notice issued on 7th November 2017 for the following single reason: “The proposal represents inappropriate development within the Green Belt. It is considered that this causes significant harm, and that as such the considerations put forward by the applicant do not amount to the very special circumstances to clearly outweigh this harm. The proposal does not therefore accord with Policy NW3 of the North Warwickshire Core Strategy 2014, or with Section 9 of the National Planning Policy Framework 2012.” 1.3 The decision notice is contained within Appendix 1. 1.4 This Statement of Case sets out the planning case and positive merits of the scheme on behalf of the appellant, Welcome Break Group Ltd. To assist the Inspector, the appellant has set out the background to the appeal along with a chronology of events to understand how the Council came to their decision. 1.5 A request has been made to proceed with this appeal by way of written representations. Smith Jenkins 2 Appeal Statement: Corley Motorway Service Area, M6 Motorway, North Warwickshire 2 Site and Surroundings Site 2.1 The appeal site can be identified from drawing number CMSA-BWB-GEN-XX-DR-TR-106 (site location plan). This also identifies all other land in the control of the appellant. 2.2 The site lies to the south of the M6 motorway and is bordered along its western, southern and eastern edges by fields, all of which are in the ownership of Welcome Break. The MSA is an ‘online’ facility and is only accessible by the public directly from the motorway. The southbound services are linked to the northbound by means of a pedestrian footbridge. In addition to the amenity building, the MSA also accommodates a fuel filling station, segregated car park, HGV and Coach park, Days Inn hotel and Starbucks drive-thru coffee shop. The site benefits from mature landscaping. 2.3 A secondary access to the MSA is located to the west of the site, and provides a single car width access from Highfield Lane into the MSA. This is controlled by secure barrier and access is restricted to emergency services and Welcome Break employees. Welcome Break do not own the field that is located between the MSA, north of the access road and Highfield Lane. 2.4 For the avoidance of doubt, this appeal relates to the service area that is located to the south side of the M6 motorway, however this is referred to as ‘northbound’ services because it serves traffic travelling north along the motorway. 2.5 The wider area is shown on the below map for context: Figure 1: Aerial photo of Corley MSA 2.6 The site was opened in the early 1970s and has been the subject of a number of planning applications. The operation of MSAs are strictly controlled by Highways England via a ‘signage’ agreement that grants the operator the right to sign the site from the Strategic Road Network (SRN). In order to obtain a signage agreement, a minimum level of facilities must be provided, and must be available for the public 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. The details of these facilities Smith Jenkins 3 Appeal Statement: Corley Motorway Service Area, M6 Motorway, North Warwickshire are set out in Department for Transport Circular 02/2013. This includes the provision of parking based on the amount of traffic on the motorway. This must be segregated and available at all times for each user group. 2.7 The fields immediately around the northbound MSA are used for the grazing of horses (although it must be noted that the owners do so without the consent of Welcome Break). Beyond the fields to the south is Bennetts Road North, which leads to the northern suburbs of Coventry to the south. This road has built development along the north site almost continually until it meets Keresley. The village of Corley is to the south-west of the appeal site. 2.8 There are a small number of residential dwellings that share a boundary with land owned by Welcome Break. These are set at least 25 metres back from the boundary (although this is not the boundary with the appeal site) and are all accessed via Bennetts Road North. 2.9 The appeal site is mainly rectangular in shape, although the site tapers into a point where is meets Bennetts Road North. A field access into the site is maintained from Bennetts Road North, which can be accessed by a vehicle. The site is bounded on all sides by mature hedgerows and trees. It is mainly flat. There are two sets of overhead cables that traverse the site from east to west. The site shares one long boundary with the MSA which is separated by a hedge and post and rail fence. 2.10 Careful consideration has been given to the location of the proposed development. The proposed site is located to the east of the MSA, and at the opposite end of the site to the existing HGV parking area. Operationally, a site located immediately south of the existing HGV park, and therefore connected to that parking area would be a better location for development operationally, however the appellant recognised that this location would have the greatest impact on the residents of Bennetts Road North. To balance the need for additional spaces alongside reduction in any harm that may arise as a result of the development, the appellant considered the proposed site to be better located. Smith Jenkins 4 Appeal Statement: Corley Motorway Service Area, M6 Motorway, North Warwickshire 3 Appeal Scheme 3.1 The proposal is to extend HGV parking into the field to provide a further 83 HGV parking spaces. This would provide for 12 over-sized HGV parking bays and 71 standard sized bays. The site layout is provided in drawing reference CMSA-BWB-GEN-XX-DR-TR-105 revP2. The site is accessed from the existing internal circulation road. It is intended that internal signage within the MSA will guide HGVs to this parking area first as there is an operational one-way system within the site which means that should HGVs not enter this area first, there is no method of re- circulation. This is achieved through advanced signage and road markings which will direct HGVS left into the site from the main internal road. The entrance will be controlled by a barrier and actively managed to ensure that when the need for spaces is least, only the existing HGV park would be used. The appellant has suggested that the appeal site be covered by a site management plan which would include hours of operation, lighting, and CCTV provision. In the case for the appellant (section 5 of this statement), we have suggested conditions that would include provision of this should permission be granted. 3.2 The proposed layout has been tracked and shown that HGVs can successfully navigate within the site, leaving in a forward gear. The appeal scheme has been the subject of a Stage 1 Road Safety Audit which has been agreed by Warwickshire County Council. 3.3 Corley MSA is recognised as providing high quality facilities for drivers using the M6 motorway. This was confirmed in the Transport Focus Motorway Services User Survey, published in October 20171 which ranked Corley northbound as the third best services in the country. Welcome Break are committed to providing a good standard of facilities for all drivers and recognise the need for more HGV parking in this location. 3.4 The appeal scheme proposes the extension of provision of additional HGV parking to support the function of the Motorway Service Area. The appellant has identified a significant requirement for further HGV parking at this site. Parking spaces would utilise the existing on-site facilities in the amenity building, Starbucks Drive Thru and fuel filling station (FFS). As such there would be no requirement to duplicate any facilities required by drivers in taking a break.