Committee to decide whether Wilmslow's largest employer can build new HQ

royallondon

Plans to enable Wilmslow's largest employer to build a new headquarters in the town will be decided by the Strategic Planning Committee next week.

Royal London has applied to build a new office development on a site to the east of their existing campus which is located within the Cheshire Green Belt.

The scheme includes additional car parking, better access for vehicles, the creation of new pedestrian and cycle routes to the site off Alderley Road and improved landscaping.

The site is partially developed however the majority of the site is undeveloped and the whole site is within the Green Belt where there is a presumption against inappropriate development.

A report prepared for the Strategic Planning Committee meeting on Wednesday, 13th July, says that it is established that the proposals represent inappropriate development within the Green Belt, and should only be approved if very special circumstances exist to justify the departure from Green Belt policy.

The applicant has put forward what it considers to be very special circumstances, which include providing Royal London with a replacement office headquarters to ensure the retention of 960 jobs in Wilmslow and securing the provision of an additional 500 to 600 jobs.

Royal London say the development would provide significant economic benefits through the provision of employment during the construction phase and the knock on benefits for local businesses. 

They also point out that the proposal will result in the widening of Alderley Road in a southerly direction, approaching the roundabout on the A34, which will remove an existing highways issue, as well as mitigating against the impact of the development, and pedestrian and cycle routes will be provided through the site.

The planning officer's reports states that the adverse impact of the development would be the loss of mature protected trees along Alderley Road but this could be mitigated to some degree through the imposition of planning conditions.

The Strategic Planning Committee are therefore recommended to approve this planning application (reference 16/2314M ), subject to referral to the Secretary of State, because the "adverse effects of the scheme are significantly and demonstrably outweighed by the benefits and mitigation against these adverse impacts can be achieved through submission of further information as part of the conditions or as part of the reserved matters application".

Royal London's new contemporary office building would have an internal floor area of up to 17,000m2 and be positioned in the south eastern corner on the main approach into the site, to give it greatest prominence from the west coast main railway line and to make it visible when entering the site.

Tags:
Planning Applications, Royal London
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Comments

Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.

Simon Worthington
Tuesday 12th July 2016 at 12:28 pm
And just how many people from Wilmslow do they employ??
Manuel Golding
Tuesday 12th July 2016 at 1:56 pm
That, Simon, is a very good question.
Has CEC asked them? CEC and RL & its agent HOW Planning are in a rather too close & friendly relationship, after all HOW is also a client of CEC.
This relationship, especially under the RL "outline planning application" scenario, could be interpreted a number of questionable ways.
Birgitta Hoffmann
Wednesday 13th July 2016 at 9:33 am
Let me start by saying that I enjoy the green leafiness of Wilmslow, including the road along Fulshaw Park. But after the 23/24 June we find ourselves in economically very challenging times and we have a number of local employers that stated openly that in case of Brexit they would have to relocate to Europe. So let me make the case from the view of the average Wilmslow household budget:

We have here one big employer and local business rate payer that is still wanting to go ahead with his expansion plans, promising up to 500 extra jobs on top of the c.900 they already have here. I think on the whole we should welcome this, especially in view of the current economic discussions, which have looked nothing if not gloomy.

If we close down the business plans of everybody in the area, then who is going to have the money to buy in the local shops? Who is going to sponsor our community events? Who is going to be able to pay the house prices so many of us are worried about?

As to how many people from Wilmslow work there? I don't have exact numbers either, but with several cars from my immediate neighbourhood turning off into their car park on a regular basis, I would guess a fair few and with more jobs coming, some of our recent graduates may have a chance to stay in the area, too.
Ryan Dance
Wednesday 13th July 2016 at 10:01 am
Great investment & a great addition to the area.

Hopefully the planning committee can see the benefits of this investment / redevelopment and come to sensible, pragmatic, forward thinking decision.

In a global world....i think the days of employees.......residing within a 2 mile radius of their work place no longer exists.
Estelle Lewis
Wednesday 13th July 2016 at 10:23 am
I doubt very much that 'local people' work at the Royal London building. The 'cars turning into the car-park' that Ms Hoffman refers to hardly suggests imminently local. Personally I have never met one of their employees in my travels.

As for building on Green Belt - No, no no! What is the point of allocating areas as Green Belt when this happens? Brown's farm in Wilmslow is now a very upmarket housing estate. What next? Build on the Carrs?
Jon Armstrong
Wednesday 13th July 2016 at 11:04 am
Perhaps some of the commentators would care to define just how far from your home they consider it acceptable to work?

Since Wilmslow owes much of its success in the last 150 years to being a dormitory town, it seems odd to get sniffy about people not working on their own doorstep.
Pete Taylor
Wednesday 13th July 2016 at 12:28 pm
I have lived in Wilmslow for over 35 years and have only ever met two people who live in Wilmslow and work at Refuge/United Friendly/Royal London.

If they really do need a new headquarters, why not build it at the existing 400 acre brown-field site just up the by-pass on the former ICI/A-Z site?