PLANS to allow a scaffolding company to have a new warehouse and storage facilities on the former Broomedge Nurseries site on green belt land in Lymm has been approved by Warrington planners.
The application by Lymm Scaffolding for the Broomedge Nurseries site on Burford Lane, Lymm, is effectively for two warehouse buildings, after a previous application for four warehouses was refused last year.
It relates to an irregularly shaped site comprising approximately 3980m² of a larger site which is owned by the applicant. The site is situated in the Green Belt to the eastern side of Burford Lane in the Broomedge area of Warrington. The site lies outside the Green Belt settlement village of Broomedge and was formerly in use as a commercial horticultural Nursery and contained a number of greenhouses which have fallen into disrepair, a number of workshops plus a steel framed part brick building located towards the centre of the site plus areas of hardstanding. The north part of the site appears to be degraded and is overgrown with rubble mounds towards the northern boundary.
The site is bounded to the north and east by open land in active agricultural use whilst to the south the site surrounds the boundary of No.46, a residential property and adjoins the northern property boundary of No.44
Burford Lane. The nearest neighbours are those situated to west at No.54 and No.56 Burford Lane where their rear garden boundaries abut the application site.
The site is accessed via a 4m wide driveway on Burford Lane, which leads into the site to an area of hardstanding which is currently used as a parking area adjacent to the southernmost building (workshop). This internal access road then turns to the north and runs through the site towards the northern boundary. To the south of the parking area, a gate provides access to a hard surfaced area, situated on slightly higher ground and which is currently uses to store touring caravans.
Burford Lane is rural in nature and is characterised by open agricultural fields with boundaries defined by hedgerows and wooded areas. Development consists of a cluster of dwellings around the junction of Burford
Lane with Higher Lane and dwellings fronting onto Burford Lane extending to the north predominantly to the eastern side of Burford Lane. The surrounding landscape is interspersed by ponds. An invasive species is present on the site.
The site is within the Green Belt as defined under Policy GB1 of the Warrington Local Plan. There are no protected trees or buildings on the site and it is in EA Flood Zone 1, i.e. the lowest risk.
In relation to a site’s lawful use, it should be noted that a previous Certificate of Lawfulness has been granted on application 2024/01145/CLDE to show that the site has been used for commercial storage purposes for a
period in excess of 10 years and one of the Greenhouses has consent to be demolished (2025/00958/DEM).
This application seeks confirmation that a proposed warehouse is lawful. The proposal consists of essentially two warehouse buildings set side by side with shallow pitched roofs. The buildings would be 12m wide and 12m in length and 5m high falling to 4.07m at the eaves and together would provide a total floorspace of 144m². The principal elevations would each contain a high service door and there would be a single access door in the side elevation of each building. The buildings would be finished in a corrugated metal material.
Warrington Borough Council planners approved ther application under delegated powers.
