The ‘Malthouse Lane Business Centre’ planning application to develop the last vacant plots on the south side of the Commerce Park for 61 small business units in nine buildings and a single industrial building (in two 15,000 sq.ft. units) has been revised, and is being (re)considered at Mendip District Council’s Planning Board on Wednesday 20th July at 6pm.

This was deferred by councillors at the Planning Board meeting in April after concerns were raised by the Coalway Lane Residents Association, me (as ward councillor for affected residents and as a member of Board) and other members of the Board, relating to noise, the potential for industrial uses to cause nuisance, sustainability and active travel (see here). The officer’s report in item 7 here recommends approval after assessing and describing the changes. Various application documents have been updated and added to (see here), and a covering letter describes the changes, a summary of which is below:

• Removal of previous B2 uses: the applicant has omitted all the previously proposed B2 (general industrial) elements of the scheme. This leaves offices (class E(g)(i) (formerly B1(a)) and storage and distribution uses (B8) within the 61 small units in area E2 and offices, light industrial (E(g)(iii) (formerly B1c) and storage and distribution in the larger units on area E1. By definition, the E class uses proposed are operations that ‘can be carried out without detriment to the amenity of residential areas’, and complies with the parameters of the previous outline planning permission.
• Delivery timing restriction: ‘The applicant is content to accept a condition that confirms no deliveries or collections by HGVs to Area E1 shall take place before 07:00 hours nor after 20:00 hours on weekdays, nor before 07:00 hours nor after 13:00 hours on Saturdays, nor at any time on Sundays, Bank Holidays or Public Holidays, without the prior written consent of the Local Planning Authority.’
• Solar panels: The applicant ‘acknowledges that Mendip District Council has declared a Climate Emergency’, and the proposals ‘now include the installation of approximately 200 solar PV panels on the roof of the two larger units in Area E1. An updated Resource Efficiency Statement Technical Note confirms that the proposals would generate electricity equivalent to 25% of the developments’ energy needs, significantly exceeding the requirements of adopted policy.’
• Enhancement to Coalway Lane: Indicative proposals are submitted to improve Coalway Lane as an active travel route to the site and rest of the Commerce Park from Pensford Way, to enhance the existing surface and provide options for lighting along the footpath, through a financial contribution secured through a Section 106 agreement or a unilateral undertaking.

The meeting reports can be viewed here, which also links to a live streaming link.

Update: Revised Commerce Park development approved with conditions:

At Mendip’s Planning Board meeting on 20th July, the Board approved the revised ‘Malthouse Lane Business Centre’ planning application to develop the south side of the Commerce Park for 61 small business units in nine buildings and a single warehouse building (in two 15,000 sq.ft. units). I was pleased to propose the approval as the scheme (and officer’s recommendations) had changed to address all the concerns which the Coalway Lane Residents Association, and I and other Planning Board members had raised on the original application:

• remove all the previously proposed B2 (general industrial) elements of the scheme, so that it complies with the previous outline planning conditions (a key concern of residents) by proposing uses compatible with being adjacent to a residential area;
• include newly proposed planning conditions to restrict the timing of deliveries to the warehouse units, restrict the amalgamation of units and require silencing of air handling equipment, all to control and avoid noise nuisance;
• include solar panels that would generate around 25% of the site’s power needs; and 
• secure improvements to surfacing and lighting of the Coalway Lane footpath, through a ;Section 106 agreement to be drawn up (I had to propose this in addition to officer recommendations, as it is necessary to improve this path to become an active travel route from Frome to enable and encourage people in Frome to walk or cycle to work at the Commerce Park).

Various application documents have been updated and added to (see here), including a covering letter describing the revisions, and the officer’s report in item 7 here and the Updating Paper here (page 3 onwards) describe the changes fully and set out the new proposed conditions.

I thanked the case officer and applicants for listening to our concerns, the rest of Planning Board for their support on this one, and the chair of the Coalway Lane Residents Association for being so effective at requesting the changes.

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