Yearsley Group is facing fresh objections after submitting a planning application for its new 385,000ft² cold store in Peterborough.
The site, which it wants to establish in the Great Haddon Employment Zone, will include a 35m high automated storage facility and will eventually employ some 300 staff, around 220 of whom will be in driving and warehouse roles, the firm has previously stated.
Plans for the development have drawn further fire from Hampton Parish Council, however, which back in September questioned the staffing levels suggested by Yearsley and the effects of such a tall building on daylight levels for nearby residents, and has now labelled the design of the building “totally unacceptable”.
In an objection lodged in April with Peterborough Council’s planning committee, parish clerk Kate Day said the design of the building in Yearsley’s recent application “bears no comparison with the original plans”. These, stressed Day, were for two separate structures with facing loading bays, effectively containing vehicle movements between them, while the current plans are for a single structure with loading bays facing Hampton. The new plan also allows for twice the number of loading bays originally envisaged in its first stage, she said.
The parish council has suggested that if the proposal is not rejected, Yearsley should be obliged to rotate the layout so that the loading bays face the A1, rather than Hampton.
Further objection to the planned cold store has also been raised by Yaxley Parish Council, which originally voiced concerns about the 17m high building in the outline planning application and has now said “35m is far too excessive”.
Yearsley Group was unavailable for comment.