A new industrial estate next to Stansted Airport including shops and a nursery as well as warehouses and offices has been approved.
Applicant Columbia Threadneedle said the outline plans would boost the economy and attract businesses to Uttlesford while relieving the district’s reliance on the airport – and raise £10m in business rates.
However, Uttlesford District Council’s planning committee questioned whether its warehouse-heavy design suited local needs.
At the meeting on Wednesday (Jan 25), members also raised concerns over the 48-acre (195,100 sq m) estate’s impact on air quality and traffic.
Columbia Threadneedle asset manager Samantha Hadland told councillors the land was currently an underutilised brownfield site but was well connected by rail, road, air and sea and could link businesses to 80% of the UK’s population within four hours.
She said: “The site presents a real opportunity to bring forward cutting-edge, sustainable development, which is estimated to produce over 2,500 jobs in construction and long-term career opportunities for over 2,000 people when the park has been built, which is an opportunity to provide real economic and social benefits for Uttlesford.”
The council’s portfolio holder for the economy, investment and corporate strategy, Cllr Neil Reeve, the Residents for Uttlesford (R4U) member for Broad Oak and The Hallingburys, supported the scheme but feared its mix of building types was a “missed opportunity”.
Around 95% of the development will be designated for storage and distribution, leaving 5% for mixed business use, according to a council report. There will also be space for retail, a café and a day nursery.
Cllr Reeve said: “We don’t need more office space but we urgently need light industrial and general business space, particularly for start-up and incubator businesses.”
Cllr Janice Loughlin (Lib Dem and Green Alliance, Stort Valley) said that an air quality monitor must be installed at the site.
She said: “It’s no use saying people are going to rely on electric cars in the future, we can’t be sure. But we can be sure that people will be working at this airport and they’ll be adding to the pollution around it.”
Cllr Geoff Bagnall (R4U, Takeley) believed not enough traffic management work had been done with Essex Highways.
He claimed the development could encourage drivers to cut through other areas to avoid sitting in traffic on the A120.
He said: “We know it’s already over capacity and it’s probably going to get a lot worse – the predictions are that it’ll be a lot worse – so where is that traffic going to go?”
According to the report, a cap on the number of vehicles entering and leaving the site at peak periods has been proposed as a planning condition.
An area of grassland, including four pitches used by Elsenham Youth Football Club, is set to be lost to the development. Instead, a floodlit all-weather pitch at Stansted’s Forest Hall School has been proposed by the applicant as mitigation.
However, Sport England objected to the estate, partly on the grounds that the new pitch did not yet have planning permission.
FedEx, which operates out of Stansted Airport, also objected to the plans. The international courier said the loss of a border control point would have a “devastating” impact on the importation of animal products.
The facility is set to be relocated to the airport, however this move is not part of the current application.
