Last updated at 20:14, Thursday, 02 August 2012

Plans to encourage new businesses to set up or expand at the Lillyhall Industrial Estate near Workington have been drawn up.

Allerdale council has submitted a screening opinion request for a local development order, which would cover the southern part of the industrial estate, including the vacant former Alcan site.

The order would relax planning restrictions there to allow new businesses to build and others to extend without the added expense and paperwork of submitting a planning application.

The draft report said the Lillyhall estate was one of the best performing industrial sites in the area in market terms and was the largest employment site in the district.

The area has been identified as one of the principle employment sites in the council’s draft local plan, but it was feared that the current quality of buildings and infrastructure made it unattractive to “high value occupiers”.

The order would reduce the time and financial costs associated with submitting planning applications.

The council hoped it would be an incentive for businesses to consider the Lillyhall estate as a preferred location to invest.

Under current planning rules, the gross floor area of new buildings for industrial or warehouse development is restricted to 1,076 square feet.

For extensions to this type of building there is a limit of either 25 percent increase of the floor space or 10,763 square feet.

In the case of office buildings there are no permitted development rights for new buildings and the extension of existing buildings is limited to 25 percent of existing floor space or 538 square feet.

The development order would allow the construction of new industrial, warehouse and office buildings within its boundaries without the need for planning permission.

This would apply to buildings with up to 16,145 square feet of internal floor space or to extensions of up to 30 per cent of existing floor space.

A screening opinion request is submitted before a planning application to gauge details needed for potential proposals and whether an environmental impact assessment is required.

First published at 19:21, Thursday, 02 August 2012
Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk