Councillors unanimously decided to see for themselves the site at the heart of contentious plans for storage and warehousing units in Witney.
More than 190 objections were received by West Oxfordshire District Council over the building of four employment units at Downs Road citing noise, odour and light pollution.
A phase of industrial development has already been permitted and completed nearby with the knock-on effect referred to in the objections.
There is outline planning permission for the site, meaning the principle of this type of development has already been passed, but it is argued that the proposals go beyond those principles, catering for lorry movements from warehouses 24 hours per day rather than office space from buildings as close as 14 metres from homes.
Resident David Edwards-Hughes said: “The conditions applied to the outline consent to protect residents from noise, odour and lighting nuisance have not been met.
“If members have read the 190 objections, they will see the level of noise and light disturbance being caused by phase one of this development and the geography of the objectors shows the scale of this problem. Phase one is 138 metres from residential properties, this application is 14.”
James Hicks, an agent for the developer, said the addition of storage and distribution uses was within the scope of current planning rules.
“Whilst the proposed uses may well differ from those permitted, it is important to note that the proposed development accords with the previously approved parameter plans, particularly with regard to building height,” he argued, adding that the layout of units had been rotated or pushed together to increase the gap between the development and residential properties with an acoustic fence set to be provided to protect residents from noise.
When asked, Mr Hicks acknowledged that lorry movements 24 hours per day, seven days per week would be “a requirement”.
“At the moment we don’t have occupiers, not all occupiers work such patterns but to deliver usable employment space for the market and economy there is a requirement for 24-7 operation,” he said.
Planning officer Abby Fettes, advocating the approval laid out in the council’s report, said: “The applicants have done a needs assessment and people are looking for larger units which is why the application has come forward in this form.
“Officers have negotiated quite hard to pull buildings away from residents to the south. We have acoustic fencing and the landscape buffer and there are no technical objections from the environmental health officer in terms of noise. That makes it very difficult for us to justify reasons for refusal on those grounds.
“While officers are very aware that this is a contentious application and it is different to what was envisaged when we first looked at the outline application, it does not make this unacceptable on its own merits.”
However, Councillor Harry Eaglestone (Con, Witney West) proposed a site visit for councillors.
“Because it is so contentious, I think we ought to go out and look at it,” he said with the rest of his colleagues agreeing.
The matter will come back to the planning committee once the visit has been conducted.
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