Gloucestershire is set to benefit from a brand-new 20 acre business park which carries the promise of 500 jobs after planners finally approved the brownfield bid.

As reported last February in Punchline-Gloucester.com, Manchester-based Ashtenne Industrial Fund Limited Partnership has been seeking permission from Stroud District Council (SDC) to repurpose the former RAF Quedgeley site.

At a projected cost of £40m for the scheme, the new facility sits between the A38 and the 1,750-home Hunts Grove suburb. Once completed, it will complement the existing business park activity and, with the clock now ticking on approval, the applicant has two years to get the job under way.

Put out for public consultation by consultants P4 Planning last year, the outline-approved Quadrant Distribution Centre will effectively be an extension to the Waterwells Business Park and will provide up to 27,871 square metres of floor space.

Hurdles to the final sign off for the work include satisfying concerns on clearing up ground contamination, as well as meeting planning stipulations on nocturnal wildlife corridors. 

Installing low-level lighting that doesn't impact the area, setting up sustainable travel schemes for future workers and adding a new combined cycle and pedestrian link to adjoin existing networks will also be part of the site conditions – but the go-ahead ends more than a decade of deliberation over the site's future and draws a line under previous bids to use the zone as a site for up to 160 new homes.

In recommending approval, case officer Gemma Davis told planners: "The application site measures approximately 8.22 hectares and forms part of the former RAC Quedgeley with this area part of the maintenance depot. Access to the site is provide from Quadrant Way which connects to Davey Way to the north which has access from the roundabout on the main Waterwells Drive. A southbound access to the south to joining with the B4008 Bristol Road/onto A38 is also present."

The Shorn Brook runs to the south of the site, along with a strip of woodland or buffer landscaping before further residential area of Hunts Grove, her report added.

In terms of initial groundwork, the majority of the site is level, but is raised up compared to adjacent land. The topography is related to the site's previous use as an RAF storage facility. As a brownfield site, it is not included in the SDC brownfield register because it is also a protected employment site within the existing local plan.

The former RAF Quedgeley site housed a maintenance depot which is now demolished. As well as industrial and distribution units, the transformed final look for the site will include office space, parking, landscaping and associated services.

With an illustration of 19 possible employment units, P4 Planning told SDC: "The proposed use accords with those of the neighbouring Gateway Business Park and Gabwell Business Centre and the Employment use of the site which is identified within the Local Plan. It is considered that the provision of new employment units will help reinforce the growth of employment at the Industrial area."

Units 1 and 5 would feature six dock levellers and two level access delivery points each while Unit 6 would have four dock levellers and two level access delivery points. Further proposed units would benefit from a mix of dock levellers and level access.

They added: "The total footprint of the proposed units is 27,632sqm resulting in the building occupying 34 percent of the site. The remaining areas of the site will be utilised as service yards/ loading areas, car and lorry parking and landscaped areas. Since only a third of the plot is to be occupied by the building, the proposal is not considered to be an over-development and is less dense than typical industrial."

The majority of units will be accessed from Quadrant Way, while two of the largest units are accessed via the existing site entrance located in the north-west corner.

Attenuation ponds are also included to mitigate flood risks, while a landscape buffer will be introduced to the eastern boundary to reduce noise impact to local residences.

Planners were also told that the proposed building heights would be designed to a rule of 16.5m maximum for the majority of the site, stepping down to smaller sized units with a 13m maximum toward the south-eastern boundary of the site.

P4 added: "This difference in building heights is designed to respond to the residential areas to the southeast and the existing industrial units that surround the site."

Punchline-Gloucester.com says:  Wow! This is just what we have been waiting (a decade) for. New jobs, new momentum – great news to kickstart good news in Gloucestershire for 2024!