Royal London, the UK's largest mutual life, pensions and investment company and Wilmslow's largest employer has announced it is looking at alternative location options near Wilmslow.
In March 2015 Royal London announced plans to create an additional 450 new jobs at its campus on Alderley Road. The intention was to accommodate the new roles by building new, modern office accommodation on land owned by Royal London to the east of the existing campus which lies in the Cheshire Green Belt.
The business currently employs around 900 full time staff in the town and wants to increase numbers to around 1,350.
However, following a period of rapid growth, Royal London is now looking at location options for the business as they will unable to build additional offices at the current site unless Cheshire East Council removes planning restrictions on the land.
Head of Procurement and Facilities at Royal London, Neil Kilshaw said: "At our Wilmslow site we have recognised for some time that space is a real issue. With an ageing property we are restricted in both maintaining existing and creating new working environments, without undertaking a major refurbishment. We've already relocated our some of our people to Alderley House on the campus as we have run out of space in the main Royal London House office. Taking into consideration our planned growth over the next few years, it's clear we're going to need more space soon."
"One of the options open to Royal London would be to develop new purpose-built offices on the adjoining land that we own to the east of the current site. However delivery of this option will require Cheshire East Council to remove planning restrictions on the land as a matter of urgency.
"As uncertainty remains around the leading location option, Royal London is also looking at other development sites near to Wilmslow. We have appointed the property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton to assist us finding other potential sites."
In November 2015 Royal London were granted planning permission to build a permanent car park with 126 spaces on the site of a temporary car park to the north west of the site.
It was approved on the grounds that the economic benefits of the proposals, the lack of better alternatives and the history of numerous temporary permissions were considered to provide very special circumstances that justify inappropriate development in the Green Belt.
The Royal London site was identified in the Local Plan for mixed use development, delivering 75 dwellings, 17-24,000 sq m of employment space and a hotel.
What do you think about this latest development, should Cheshire East Council remove the planning restrictions on the land to enable Royal London to remain at the site and build additional offices? Share your views via the comment box below/
Comments
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However, CEC should try to keep this major employer - but if CEC gives approval for the development to go ahead there needs to be enforceable conditions that further development is not permitted, otherwise the green belt will be further eroded in 5 years. On the positive side this is also an opportunity for CEC to receive more business rates to use in Wilmslow to fix the appalling roads in Wilmslow and maybe even start to maintain some footpaths.
The Macclesfield local plan adopted in 2004 defined this site as a "strategic" site in the green belt, and made allowances for it's development. But RL failed to take advantage of this. Now, they are asking for the whole of the existing site and even more green field land to be removed from the greenbelt in the name of growth.
Oh well. We'll just have to wait and see what the inspector of the local plan makes of it when the hearing finally gets going again in September.
In Wilmslow there are nearly 200,000 square feet of empty offices, Handforth, reputedly 400,000Sq Ft, one building alone is nearly 60,000sq ft. Never mind Poynton, Macclesfield and Manchester Airport, and Knutsford.
Even our dearly departed Leader admits even council officers are more mobile the need for office space is diminishing. Th threat is build my offices, or I will go, to hell with the houses, or let me build the offices and you can have the land.
It is about time the Council faced up to these people, as well as the builders
Whilst the plan for housing, a hotel and mixed use buildings might well have been in the Local Plan, that plan continues to be failed by the Inspector. The proposal was comprehensively rejected by the residents in the Wilmslow Vision consultation.
Lisa, perhaps you could contact Royal London and ask them exactly how many people they employ on site currently and exactly how many of them have an SK9 Post Code?
Inclusion of the sites at Royal London has, from the outset of preparing the CEC Local Plan, been land owner lead. Planning Inspector, Stephen Pratt, will surely see the threat of relocation by Royal London as an attempt to thwart the democratic process. May Inspector Pratt have the Wisdom of Solomon; he will need it on this one!