Approval for controversial industrial development on site of Telford's former GKN Sankey factory
Council planners have given final approval for a large industrial development on the site of the former GKN Sankey factory at Hadley Castle Works in Telford.
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The signing of a section 106 agreement on March 6 between Telford & Wrekin Council, Mercia Real Estate (HPE), and Luxembourg-based investment company ICG-Longbow means that five new units, some as high as 70 feet, are one step closer.
The council’s decision notice was issued to the developers on Thursday (March 20).
Controversially, the development was approved last year after only two councillors on the planning committee gave it the go-ahead.
Seven members had abstained, two councillors voting in favour and one against.
Telford & Wrekin Council’s planning committee had reconvened after earlier deferring the proposal.
More than 500 objections were lodged, with residents worried about the noise and visual impact the site would have, adding that it “would be an invasion of the green space buffer.”
The section 106 agreement means that the developers have agreed to pay £449,348.68 towards the strategic highways network, give a £5,000 per unit contribution towards Travel Plan monitoring and £75,000 contribution towards existing bus stop enhancements on Hortonwood 30 and Hadley Road.
The developers have also agreed to pay about £5,000 so the council can monitor the agreement.
They will also have to work through 30 planning conditions, which include implementing a biodiversity plan.
The biodiversity plan includes the provision of 10 bat boxes, four nesting boxes for bird species such as robin, blackbird and tit species, three nesting boxes suitable for house sparrow, three nesting boxes for swallows, house martins and swifts and five boxes for invertebrates.
