Walsingham Planning has secured a highly valuable consent for the new owner of a Business Park in Oxfordshire. The Business Park was created in the mid-1980s from a former Airbase. It was originally planned to achieve around 50,000 sq m of floorspace but, with only 20,000m sq m built, it had never reached its full potential and its built infrastructure was in need of investment.
Working with SRA Architects, we achieved an outline planning permission for up to 40,000m2 of office and warehouse use with ancillary functions including a Gym, Nursery and Café, as well as full planning permission for a block of ‘incubator’ units to quickly bring new local enterprises into the Business Park.
The main issues regarding the application related to the loss of trees and the landscape impact of the proposals. We were able to overcome each of these issues through detailed negotiations with Council Officers.
Following our detailed planning history research, the Council accepted that a previous legal agreement was still in force, thereby eliminating the need for potentially substantial highway contributions. The development of the Business Park will now proceed in accordance with several reserved matters applications, tailored to the demand for new business floorspace, allowing the business park to steadily grow and thrive.