21/4/2008

Local News in Fleet

Developer’s plans for bakery near Pyestock site

A property investment company is pushing ahead with plans to build a bakery between Fleet and Farnborough.

Kenmore also wants permission for a hi-tech data centre on part of the Cody Technology Park on the border of Hart and Rushmoor.

The site is not far from the proposed massive warehouse development at Pyestock, which was unanimously refused by Hart District Council’s planning committee at a packed meeting in Aldershot’s Princes Hall last month.

Kenmore has bought around 15 acres of land from Qinetiq and hopes to submit a detailed planning application to Hart District Council next month.

Public exhibitions of its plans were held in September 2007 at Ancells Farm Community Centre in Hart district and at Southwood Golf Club in Rushmoor in order to hear residents’ views and comments.

This followed a period of consultation with residents’ groups and local councillors.

A Kenmore spokesman said: “This dialogue continues and has informed the design process.

“One of the main challenges for Kenmore within this site has been to limit the amount of traffic generated.

“The scheme has evolved from a mixed-use scheme comprising light industrial units, data centres and a bakery to a dual use proposal formed of one single data centre and a Warburtons bakery.”

Kenmore is now proposing to build a single-storey bakery of 192,604sq ft, containing plant and process equipment, with an ancillary two-storey 19,906sq ft office block.

The 69,940sq ft four-storey data centre will house computing equipment and supporting cooling plant.

There will also be an outdoor compound housing emergency backup generators and an electrical substation.

The Kenmore spokesman said the data centre is a hi-tech business compatible with the existing technology park uses and would generate little traffic.

He added: “By their nature, data centres require secure and discreet sites that are well hidden from public highways as critical information is stored in them.

“The bakery is sympathetic to the local highways issues and will create minimal peak time traffic thus addressing many of the local concerns whilst remaining within the Local Development Framework’s employment land allocation.”

Kenmore is seeking to submit a detailed planning application to Hart District Council in May.

The spokesman added: “The scheme will then be subject to a further period of public consultation prior to a decision being made by the planning authority.”

A report prepared for Kenmore by Edinburgh-based Environ UK Limited, said the site is close to a number of internationally, nationally and locally protected sites including the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area, designated for hosting the woodlark, nightjar and Dartford warbler.

The report says the proposals recognise the sensitivity of the site’s location in a strategic gap.

It added that a landscaping scheme is being developed in consultation with Hart District Council’s landscape officer and will be designed to screen the site from surrounding roads.

The report says an expanse of open space around the proposed data centre would enable the re-introduction of wildlife habitats and balancing ponds would have a positive effect on the ecological environment.

Warburtons is a family-run business founded in Bolton in 1876.

It is now a household name, with a turnover of £373million and an operating  profit of £45m.

Major customers include all the principal UK food retailers.

First printed in: Fleet News and Mail