Rayner throws out greenbelt logistics development plans

By Liza Helps Property Editor Logistics Matters

THE MINISTER has seemingly gone back on her own government’s stated objective to open up the greenbelt to development. While it’s proposed planning reforms will allow local authorities to consider green belt development if they cannot meet housing targets with their current land pipelines this does not seem to be extending to other forms of development.

Langtree and Panattoni’s 3.1 million ft2 Six56 scheme in Warrington was put forward to help meet the identified employment space shortfall in Warrington’s emerging Local Plan and was granted planning permission by Warrington Council in 2022.

The council identified the need for some 941 acres of employment space over 20 years in its emerging Local Plan.

The original Six56 plans were put forward in 2019 and Warrington Council approved the  application in March 2022. Initially the then Secretary of State Michael Gove decided he would not call in the application and in May 2022 all was set for development. However, Gove paused his decision to not call in the application and finally did so in November 2022.

There were delays to the Public Inquiry which finally completed in October this year with the planning Inspector rejecting the scheme with the decision upheld by Rayner.

In her announcement on the site it was deemed that  ‘very special circumstances’ do not exist to justify this development in the green belt.

The Planning Inspectorate did agree that there was a need for logistics accommodation in the area but added that demand is “overstated” and based on “subjective opinion rather than robust quantitative data”.

Logistics Matters North West report published just this month noted that while there is seemingly a lot of stock available  there are not enough large  warehouse developments to satisfy  a growing demand from occupiers. Indeed Savills director and head of the Industrial Agency department in the North West, Jonathan Atherton said: “The planning position is constraining supply of these big sheds.”

He refers to the numerous call ins of sites in the Northwest a couple of years ago which delayed or stopped development in the region. “The call in by the Secretary of State on key development sites a couple of years ago was detrimental to the balance of supply in the region. This has only been acerbated by other factors such as construction costs, yield movement in the investment market and finance costs all leading to a dearth of units coming to market now.”

Indeed speculative development is 40% across the region typically.

Tritax Big Box developments head of Manchester office David Travis said in the report: “There are not many consented sites that can accommodate larger format  buildings.”

Currently there are five live requirements for buildings over 500,000 ft2 and only two properties anywhere near this size immediately available.

It has been widely reported that Langtree group chief executive John Downes, has said the decision “seems to fly in the face of the government’s stated growth ambitions’.

The developers will now look at the ruling and assess their options.