[21
SEP 00] WARWICK DISTRICT COUNCIL NEWS
Old Hospital Buildings Set For Redevelopment
The rural base
of Massey Ferguson on an old wartime hospital in Warwickshire is
set to be demolished and redeveloped, even though it stands in
historic parkland and in the Green Belt.
After
unsuccessful attempts to change the use of the site, the
applicants are set to get approval next week for a
facelift.
Warwick
District Council planning officers back the plans to knock down
the ageing structures and put up new buildings for business use.
But villagers
in nearby Stoneleigh say it is not good enough just to knock old
buildings only to put up new ones on such a sensitive site at
the southern end of the Stoneleigh Deer Park site, close to
Stoneleigh Golf Club.
Most of the
buildings were used for an American forces hospital in the
Second World War.
Massey Ferguson
was given special permission to use the buildings from 1956 in
connection with developing and showing agricultural machinery,
and until recently it was the only company allowed to use the
site.
In recent
years, the company tried to loosen the restrictions to allow
other firms to move in as the tractor-making company (now part
of Agco) used the building less.
Some other
firms are allowed to use the building for light industrial
purpose until 2002 on a temporary permission.
An attempt to
loosen these restrictions was refused and an appeal against this
decision was withdrawn after the council drew up its own
guidelines to control planning at the site. Warwick District
Council has now come up with a design brief to given future use
of the site.
The policies
are to restore the historic parkland next to the business park,
redevelop all the buildings to a design standard making the new
build less intrusive and more sensitive to the character of the
park and to meet Green Belt policy.
The new plans
have met opposition from Stoneleigh Parish Council. It said the
new buildings will cover the same land as what is there now, but
the new buildings will be taller and so "clearly more
obtrusive". A representative of the parish council said:
“If we are
serious about our desire to restore this historic parkland we
should allow no development.
“If this is
not possible then the new development should be restricted to
the area north of Cloud Lane and the river.
“In this
way, the development would be out of sight from the
surrounding roads and with, suitable planting, screened from
the view on the golf course.
“The
proposal as presented is simply the replacement of old
buildings with new larger buildings and should be rejected.”
Warwickshire
County Council both supports and objects to the scheme.
The strategic
planning team said the plan would help restore the historic
parkland and raises no objection if the district council and an
independent financial assessment back the scheme.
But highways
officers say the development is ‘not sustainable’. They add
that should it be approved, they have come up with suggested
conditions to control the traffic at the isolated site.
Officers say
traffic issues have been addressed, a full historical survey of
the site and its landscape have been carried out, and that trees
are to be retained or replanted.
District
councillors meet on Tuesday evening to discuss the outline
planning application submitted by Holaw 362 and Buildmajor
Limited.
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