EDDIE Stobart has won planning permission for a controversial National Distribution Centre on Green Belt land opposite their national HQ at Appleton Thorn.
Despite opposition from thousands of local residents and local councillors, members of Warrington Borough Council’s Development Management Committee voted 8-2 in favour of the application which was being recommended for approval by the council’s planning officers.
The application was proposed for approval by Cllr Peter Carey (Lab) and seconded by Cllr Brian Maher (Lab). Eight Labour members of the committee voted in favour of the application, while two Lib Dem members voted against it.
Warrington South MP Faisal Rashid (Lab) submitted a written objection which was read out by Cllr Laurence Murphy (Lab).
Lib Dem Cllr Ryan Bate said after the meeting that he was “absolutely disgusted” by the decision which he said “begged belief” and campaigners would now be considering seeking a judicial review.
They will also be lobbying the Secretary of State to call in the application and for there to be a public inquiry.
Although Eddie Stobart has won backing from the borough council the application will still have to go before the Secretary State who will make the final decision due to the scale of the development on green belt land.
The full planning committee hearing which lasted around 1:45 can be seen by watching the video (top) while Ryan Bates comments can be heard in the video below.
The proposals for a £75m 59,000 sqm, state-of-the-art building on land close to the existing Eddie Stobart’s HQ will create at least 480 new jobs in Warrington and add £18 million to the local economy every year.
A previous planning application for the scheme was turned down by Warrington Borough Council – against Officer advice – in November last year. That decision has since been appealed for review by the Planning Inspectorate, which is due to be heard in October.
There was controversy recently when members of the development control committee voted to not defend the reasons for refusal on green belt and prematurity grounds.
After the meeting Warrington South Tory PPC Andy Carter said: “I am very disappointed that Councillors decided to approve development of a large distribution centre in the green belt tonight before the local plan has been finalised. I will be writing to Robert Jenrick MP who has tonight taken up the role of Secretary of State to ask him to call the decision in for review.”
Protesters who gathered outside the town hall
Eddie Stobart welcomes council backing for £75m National Distribution Centre
Very dissapointed to hear Councillors approve Eddie Stobart warehouse on green belt land in South Warrington. I will write to the new Secretary of State to ask that they call this decision in for review.
— Andy Carter (@MrAndy_Carter) July 24, 2019
8 Comments
As I understand it the councillor who seconded the motion, voted for the proposal but had absolutely no idea where the site is, was Brian Maher. Is that correct?
He did ask if it had been a site for Greenalls in the past – all comments can be heard in the video coverage at the top of the page – so no one can hide from who said what and who voted for what.
Hi Gary, could you indicate the time on the video where Cllr Maher made his comments? It would be really helpful to visitors.
It’s about 44 minutes in
That is remarkable and may even be a breach of the standards of public life.
I agree. This is the substance of a complaint I’m formulaing and will be putting to the Monitoring Officer when I’ve finalised it
I would like to draw your attention to last night’s DMC meeting which rejected the second Stobart Application.
In that meeting Councillor Maher clearly had no clue as to where the Stobart development was located. He even admitted this when he asked if it was the old Greenall land.
Clearly Cllr. Maher had not read the papers he had been provided with.
There are rules for councillors to declare conflicts of interest and refrain from voting if there is any conflict. Surely the corollary should apply and if they have little idea about the detail they should not be passing judgment.
I believe Cllr. Marr therefore breached the third Nolan principle of OBJECTIVITY,
“Holders of public office must act and take decisions impartially, fairly and on merit, using the best evidence and without discrimination or bias.”
In not knowing such a basic fact about the location of an application then clearly he was not using the best evidence and not being objective..
Arguably he was also breaching the seventh Nolan principle of LEADERSHIP as defined in WBC’s Item 8 of its Code of Conduct for Members.
“…. on all occasions, act in accordance with the trust that the public is entitled to place in you. ”
How can the public put trust in a councillor who was clearly out of touch and who gave the impression of ‘winging it’ and only being there to make up the numbers. He certainly didn’t ask any more questions.
Richard, I can hear the defence now: it being self evident that he approached the matter with a completely open mind!
A mind so open, there was still nothing in it even after listening for 44 minutes.