Decision day for Greenham distribution centre - to net £200,000 for councils

If approved, the plans would net £200,000 for local council coffers and result in hundreds of extra lorries and vehicles using the A339 through Newbury and over the Berkshire/Hampshire border.
West Berkshire planners have recommended approval of QTR Transport Ltd’s plans, a major application, for the long lease of a 4,640sqm former aircraft hangar at Greenham Business Park for storage and distribution purposes, on a site owned by Greenham Common Trust.
If approved, QTR will stump up developer’s contributions (106 monies) in excess of £200,000, split 55 per cent to West Berkshire Council (WBC) and 45 per cent to Hampshire County Council (HCC). WBC will receive over £185,000, with £102,080 earmarked for A339 highways improvements locally and possibly bus subsidies, £16,240 towards libraries and £16,240 towards public open spaces.
The existing building would become the operating base of QTR, a national transport company, who plan to re-locate from Reading, resulting in a 357 vehicles (approx 50 per cent HGV’s and 50 per cent light vehicles) accessing the site every day, between 7am to 7pm.
The application states that 30 per cent of this traffic is estimated to travel along the A339 through Newbury, 50 per cent along the B4640 via Newtown and Burghclere, and the remaining traffic would head towards Basingstoke.
A total 14 letters of objection include concerns about the traffic and noise impacts, with the nearest house 120m away and criticism that the company’s proposals to mitigate the effects of noise do not go far enough, along with worries about light pollution.
Planners have argued that extant (still in existence) planning permission granted at a December 2008 appeal to Pro Logis would have generated around 2050 vehicle movements a day -over 500 per cent more traffic than QTR’s proposal.
In addition, a brownfield site would be re-used and Greenham Business Park, set up in 1997, was a principal West Berkshire employment park, where business development was supported.
Some 110 full-time jobs would be created, of which 70 to 80 would be expected to be filled from the local area.
Conditions attached to any approval include: no extensions to the warehouse without further planning permission, the access route should be from the west, to reduce noise impact from the east and Woffard Way should not be used, unless in emergencies, with QTR asked to submit a revised plan detailing the access route within the park.
All HGV and fork lift trucks should be fitted with non tonal (white noise) reversing alarms and no reversing tonal bleepers to be used on any vehicles between 11pm and 7am,or Sundays, bank or public holidays, conditions also stipulate.
The site was also approved in 2002 for use by Sainsbury’s, with this permission since lapsed.