Planning officers have recommended that councillors approve a new industrial development park in Lichfield.
Fradley and Streethay Parish Council has raised “significant objections” to the proposal for land off Burton Old Road, including issues with noise and an increased number of HGVs on local roads.
There were also concerns about plans for the site to be in use around the clock, while Lichfield City Council said there were “serious unresolved issues” surrounding access and links to the A38.
Meanwhile, local residents have written 166 letters of objection, but officials at Lichfield District Council have recommended the scheme be approved.
A report to a meeting of the local authority’s planning committee next week explains: “Concerns have been expressed, as before, by neighbouring residents, regarding the impact of the development on their outlook.
“The amendments made to the scheme at the outline stage sought to overcome these concerns by moving the units further from the railway line, deleting a unit that had been indicated at the northern part of the site in an earlier scheme, and reducing the heights of those buildings closest to residential properties.
“Concerns have also been raised in terms of noise nuisance, but such issues were addressed at the outline planning permission stage and therefore this is not a matter for consideration as part of the current application.”
The new development would feature 13 units for industrial or storage and distribution and 17 offices units.
The report added that many of the other concerns had already been dealt with earlier in the planning process: “A number of issues have been raised in letters of representation and in comments from the Parish Council, for example relating to concerns regarding noise, traffic and need for the development, which fall outside the scope for consideration in this current reserved matters application.
“These were all issues that were fully explored in detail at the outline stage and debated by the planning committee at such time. The fact that there is an extant outline planning permission means that these issues are no longer up for consideration.”
The development will be discussed by Lichfield District Council at the planning meeting on Monday (November 3).
