FORTY nine storage containers will no longer be sited in empty industrial land after plans were refused for being ‘entirely inappropriate’.
Naomi Light, principal planner on behalf of Branston Investments Ltd, applied to East Staffordshire Borough Council for permission to change the use of land at Meadworks, in Horninglow Street, Burton.
However, council planning officers said the site was a prominent gateway into the town and would fail to preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area.
The firm wanted to store 49 containers on the land along with fencing and entrance gates and associated lighting for three years.
The site was previously for industrial use, however the majority of the industrial buildings have been removed and the site is vacant
Permission has previously been granted for 12 homes in January 2010 however work has failed to start.
The report from the applicants said: “The containers will be new (used for one shipment only) and coloured dark green. The vertical green metal fencing fronting Horninglow Street is in poor repair and will be replaced with green palisade fencing and electronically controlled gates with security coded entry.”
However, planning officers stated that planning permission will only be granted for proposals which are of high quality in design terms and which relate well to their surroundings.
In refusing permission, planning officer Jim Malkin said: “The proposed storage containers by reason of their scale, siting, design and materials would result in a development which is entirely inappropriate and out of context in this prominent gateway location into the town, while also failing to preserve or enhance the character and appearance of the Horninglow Street Conservation Area, and damaging the setting of the adjoining grade II listed Plough Maltings.
