Giant warehouse not visually harmful

A GIANT warehouse building, towering almost 40 metres high, will not cause visual harm to nearby residents, planning chiefs at Warrington have decided.
Members of the borough council’s development management committee have given the go ahead for the distribution warehouse on a 25 hectare site at Omega South, despite objections from residents who claim it will be “huge and over-bearing.”
The development will take place just outside the area where outline planning consent already exists for the first phases of the Omega site.
Angry residents claim they have been misled during public consultation exercises.
They say they were led to believe only low-level development would be considered for the site – and expected a hotel, offices and a cafe.
A huge increase in heavy traffic on local roads is expected – roads already busy with domestic traffic catering for local housing and three schools.
Planning officers acknowledge that lower level buildings were originally envisaged for Omega South.
They concede the warehouse will undoubtedly stand out and be visible from a long distance away – including Burtonwood village and suburban Warrington.
However they do not think it will cause visual harm .
Concerns over loss of wildlife habitat, noise, air pollution, insufficient consultation and a lack of consideration for a scheduled ancient monument – the World War 2 Pickett-Hamilton fort – have also been rejected.
The plan was put forward by Omega Warrington Ltd (OWL).
Access will be from a signal controlled junction from the existing spur from Junction 8 of the M62, although there will be separate employee access. There will be staff parking for 380 veh9cles and 250 spaces for HGVs.
The site is due to open next year, with about 253 staff, but this number will d increase to 421 by 2024.
Part of an existing national network for the storage and distribution of supermarket produce, the building will have no refrigeration but will operate over a seven day continuous cycle.