Plan lodged for 33-acre Worcester industrial park

Four warehouse and light industrial buildings could be constructed on the outskirts of Worcester, under outline proposals lodged by city-based developer Maximus this week.

An application for the site off Blackpole Road, in the north-east of the city, would add more than 300,000 sq ft of manufacturing, logistics, and light industrial space to a 33-acre farmland plot, which is sandwiched between the A449 and the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.

If plans are approved by Worcester City Council, nine units of various sizes could be built across three distinct development plots under indicative proposals submitted with the scheme.

The proposed site is in Greenbelt land bordering the north of the city, but in supporting documents submitted with the scheme developer Maximus says it would help to address the city’s undersupply of employment land – which it estimates at a minimum of around 35 acres.

New I&L units could be built on the outskirts of Worcester under plans submitted by Maximus Group. Credit: Maximus Group

A technical assessment supplied with the proposals argues that the site makes only a “limited” contribution to Greenbelt objectives.

“There is a significant and immediate need for new employment sites within Worcester city itself, taking into account the lack of remaining developable land despite a strong market demand from local occupiers, resulting in a significant deficit of supply against the employment land needs,” said a statement submitted with the proposals.

Jon Hickton, director at Maximus Group, said: “As a local company, we’re really pleased to have submitted our plans for this strategic site, providing a significant contribution to the supply of land for employment need in the city of Worcester. The development will support economic growth and productivity, delivering an estimated annual £24 million GVA from on-site jobs and £372k in business rates.

“We’ve already had substantial interest from potential occupiers and discussions will continue as we progress through planning.”

Designs for the scheme have been worked up by UMC, with planning consultancy provided by Delta Planning. The project team also includes Blade(Landscaping), Link(Engineering), DTA(Transport), ESC(Mechanical and electrical), Peninsular Accoustics, Abel(Project management), and Orion(Heritage).

Documents and plans relating to the application can be found on Worcester City Council’s planning portal using reference: 26/00423/OUT