Proposal for new units at DIRFT near Crick set to be approved

The first units on the DIRFT III expansion site look set to be given planning approval.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Aug 2016, 04:55 BST

Details for the two new units will go before Daventry District Council’s planning committee next Wednesday.

They are both for storage and distribution – the first has a floor space of 37,545 square metres including ancillary office floor space, and the second is 10,760 square metres.

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The masterplan for the DIRFT expansion site has already been given approval, and work has begun on site.

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That outline approval dealt with issues like the road layout on the site, the new rail link, junctions and access to the site, and improvements needed on the A5 to cope with the extra traffic. It also set out rules regarding the heights of buildings, but did not deal with specific buildings as developers tend to leave this aspect until they have interested firms and can design a suitable unit for them.

The smaller unit, on Plot 2, will sit in the corner of the A5 and Danes Way. The larger unit will be on the neighbouring Plot 1 to the north backing onto the A5.

Plot 2 will be accessed from a new roundabout on a slightly re-aligned Danes Way. While Plot 1 will have access to a new road off that roundabout running parallel to the A5.

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The new rail link to DIRFT III – continuing over the A5 from the current Sainsbury’s depot, will form Plot 1’s northern edge. In total the two sites provide for 533 car parking spaces for workers indicating the number of jobs that could be created.

Crick Parish Council has objected to both the units, while the parish councils for Kilsby and Yelvertoft have raised concerns.

Crick objected to the plans over the units’ height and visibility from the A5, but planning officers at DDC point out the units are below the approved limit in the existing approval for DIRFT III and it is acceptable that they are visible from the A5 like other units at the transport hub. Officers also state that many of the concerns voiced by the parishes should be dealt with by the road improvements already agreed.

Both applications have been recommended for approval.