Green light for CCL’s £80m Wolverhampton cold store

Plans to build a 109,000 sq ft distribution warehouse in the north of Wolverhampton have been given the go-ahead by council planners, after the firm behind the proposals warned they could move out of the city if the scheme was refused.

Constellation Cold Logistics lodged an application for the expansion of its existing facilities on Park Lane Industrial Estate in April, which also included a 15,100 sq ft extension to its existing warehouse.

It was the second time an application had been submitted for the site, after earlier proposals were withdrawn due to residents concerns over the scale of the development.

In their application, CCL added that the development represented a “significant investment” of approximately £40m, which would in turn pave the wave for a total scheme of improvements worth £80m at the site, which has been pre-let to Cargills.

However, during a meeting of the city council’s planning committee on Tuesday, 2 June, the applicant warned that the city council risked losing the investment, and a potential extra 40 jobs created by the scheme, if they decided to turn it down.

“This application is absolutely critical to CCL’s future operation at the site,” Hannah Swainston, associate at planning agent for the scheme, Quod, told the committee.

“Without this project the future upgrades are unlikely to proceed and there’s a very real risk that CCL will have to review other options, likely outside Wolverhampton, in order to keep operating in the region.”

The business already employs 77 staff at the Wolverhampton works.

Councillors expressed concerns over the impact of the development on residents in nearby Low Hill, with the new facility set to operate on a round-the-clock basis.

However, a report by the city council’s planning officers said the scheme should be viewed “in the context of the site’s established commercial setting”, adding there was: “no evidence to indicate that the operation of the development would give rise to unacceptable noise impacts on neighbouring residential properties.”

“It is recognised that the 24-hour operation has the potential to result in activity outside typical daytime hours, and appropriate controls can be secured where necessary to ensure that impacts remain acceptable,” they wrote.

UMC Architects created designs for the scheme, with planning consultancy provided by Quod.

The application was approved by ten votes to one.

Plans and documents relating to the application can be found on City of Wolverhampton Council’s planning portal using reference: 26/00282/FUL