A warehouse covering up to 11,500 square metres is set to be built on ‘Grey Belt’ land in South Mimms, after councillors voted to grant outline permission for the plans yesterday (Thursday, August 15).
The warehouse site, next to South Mimms services at Junction 23 of the M25, is expected to provide around 173 on-site jobs once complete.
Currently, the site is occupied by a home and outbuildings. It is within the Green Belt, but planning officers deemed it would likely be classed as ‘Grey Belt’ if reforms proposed by the new Labour government come into effect.
Under the reforms, councils will be encouraged to build on so-called ‘Grey Belt’ sites – plots within the Green Belt that have previously been built on or are otherwise “poor quality”.
It is within the South Mimms Special Policy Area, which is designated for use by developments related to the road and motorway network.
But council officers judged that breaking from that policy was “not likely to result in any significant harm”.
Cllr Christian Gray (Lab, Potters Bar Furzefield), chairing the planning committee, said the site “probably would have been built out long ago” if National Highways hadn’t had a “monopoly” on it.
Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership supported the plans, which the applicant said could add £7.2m per year to Hertfordshire’s economy and generate almost £750,000 in annual business rates.
Gareth Pritchard, speaking on behalf of the applicant, told councillors the site is one of the “worst performing pieces of Green Belt in Hertsmere”.
It is owned by Railpen, a pension fund. Mr Pritchard described the site as “incredibly attractive” for potential occupiers and said it would provide “many other jobs” through the supply chain.
Councillors raised questions about a proposed shuttle bus for workers at the warehouse, details of which will be provided at a later date.
Cllr Sarah Hodgson-Jones (Con, Potters Bar Oakmere) wanted to know details of the proposed route, frequency and capacity, which Cllr Paul Morris OBE (Con, Bushey Heath) said would be “really quite critical” in determining the merits of the application.
Cllr Morris wanted to ensure the bus route would support jobs for local residents, rather than “for example, coming from Edgware”.
Conditions on the bus service were also argued to be very important by Cllr Natalie Susman (Con, Shenley), who raised concerns about the potential impact of the development on Junction 23 of the M25.
She said: “I hate that roundabout. It is just an enormous ball of chaos.
“I am very concerned about the impact on the everyday users of that roundabout of loads of HGVs coming and going.”
A council planning officer said Hertfordshire Highways are “satisfied” the impact of the development on the roads would not be significant enough to warrant rejecting it.
She added there will be signage and road marking changes at the junction “that will make it easier to navigate, and hopefully reduce the problems drivers have in using the junction”.
Vehicle access to the warehouse is expected to be from St Albans Road.
Councillors on the planning committee unanimously voted to approve the warehouse plans.
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