Rolls-Royce has been granted a three-year time extension on two planning permissions relating to the redevelopment of its vacant East Works site.
The engine manufacturer moved production to a new custom-built facility north of Gipsy Patch Lane in October 2008 and had planned to sell off the East Works site to a developer.
But the plan was scuppered when the company’s chosen development partner ProLogis walked away from a deal in April 2009, blaming the “adverse economic situation”.
Rolls-Royce subsequently demolished its former factory on the site and the land has since remained unused pending an upturn in the economy.
In 2007, the company successfully applied for two different planning permissions for redevelopment of the site. One application was for ‘outline’ permission, the other a hybrid application including ‘full’ permission for a hotel, offices and industrial units and ‘outline’ permission for the remainder of the site.
With the three-year validity of those permissions about to expire, the company recently applied for extensions, which have now been granted – despite concerns being raised by Royal Mail about the operation of its nearby Bristol Mail Centre being “adversely affected by [traffic] congestion” arising from the cumulative impact of both the East Works development and the Cribbs/Patchway New Neighbourhood.
The new neighbourhood, conceived following BAE Systems’ decision to close Filton Airfield, is a key part of South Gloucestershire Council’s Core Strategy that is currently undergoing examination by an independent inspector.
Related link: East Works Redevelopment (The Journal)
