Keynsham warehouse extension can go ahead

KEYNSHAM company IJ McGill Transport has been given planning permission to extend a warehouse at its base in Avon Mill Lane.

The project will more than double the size of the existing warehouse and will also involve demolishing some other buildings to improve the layout of the site.

Three people who commented on the planning application raised concerns about noise and traffic.

One said expanding the premises would result in large vehicles using roads not designed for them.

Another said people living south of the nearby railway line were already affected by the beeping of reversing lorries early in the morning and late at night. They suggested that planning control of noise and vehicle movements should be included, particularly between the hours of 11pm and 7am.

But a Bath & North East Somerset Council officer’s report stated that a review of traffic operations at the site suggested the warehouse extension would not result in a significant adverse traffic impact.

Regarding noise, the report said that the planning permission for the existing warehouse in 2022 did not contain any restrictions on hours of operation, and the applicant had confirmed that the business had been operating 24 hours a day.

But the report concluded that – given the distant between the warehouse and the nearest homes, more than 100 metres to the south of the railway line – controls on the hours of use of the site would not be “reasonable or necessary”.

The Environment Agency had originally opposed the extension on the grounds that a flood risk assessment submitted with the planning application did not meet the agency’s requirements.

But discussions between the agency and the applicant had produced updated information that allowed the agency to withdraw its objections.

IJ McGill, which was established in 1979, has depots in Devon, Buckinghamshire, Midlands and Manchester, but runs its UK-wide transport company from Keynsham.

Its planning statement said UK companies had been making greater use of storage for stock because of supply issues caused by such factors as Covid, Brexit and the war in Ukraine.

Aa a result, the Keynsham company’s warehouse storage business had grown and the new warehouse that was built in 2022 was now full.

It envisaged that the warehouse extension would increase its workforce of 116 by 10.

The former Keynsham Paper Mill site was used for 20 years by DS Smith as a paper recycling depot until IJ McGill took over in 2019.