£19m Pavers expansion at Northminster Business Park at risk

Two separate planning applications from Pavers will come before planning committee next Thursday, which aim to create more than 130 jobs.

However, despite backing a £9 million office expansion, planning staff recommend councillors refuse a £10 million warehouse expansion at the company’s Northminster Business Park headquarters. The plans follow a recent £4 million expansion.

Pavers say that without both schemes gaining approval their future in York is at risk and jobs would move out of the city.

Director Stuart Paver said: “We would ask councillors to decide whether they want to support one of York’s most successful and longest-standing  businesses and approve both planning applications.

“Both planning applications are intrinsically linked in terms of future investment and one cannot happen without the other.

“York has been our proud base for over 50 years, and we would like this to continue for many more generations. We believe the local council should strongly support local businesses rather than forcing them to leave the city.

“We do not feel sufficient weight has been given to the economic benefits, job creation and the unique nature of the expansion in the Officers’ report. We are landlocked without these applications being approved as there is nowhere else for us to expand on this site, and we need to keep our operation in one footprint in order to compete in the market.”

Mr Paver added: “If we are not successful with both planning applications, we will have to carefully look at our future options for the business.”

The office expansion is on land allocated for employment use under the emerging local plan.

However, the warehouse expansion is on other Green Belt land currently used for agriculture.

Pavers says it has put forward “very special circumstances” for the Green Belt warehouse development.

The company says the location is already home to many other businesses and is out-of-sight away from any major roads.

The warehouse extension needed to be physically linked to the existing facility to connect with Pavers’ existing state-of-the-art automation system, as well as improving emission reduction efforts by minimising HGV movements, it said.

If the warehouse was not physically linked the multi-million-pound automation system could not work as envisaged, and trucks travelling between the two sites would lead to unnecessary emissions, Pavers added.

Should the warehouse application be rejected Pavers says it would look to open a secondary warehouse in the South-West to ensure improved geographic coverage of their stores.

It is also unlikely to go ahead with the office application in the current form, leading to a vast reduction in the envisaged new jobs available.

The expansion proposals, together with the existing operation, are estimated to bring £190 million to the York economy in the coming years, the company added.

However, council planners say this economic benefit is not sufficient to overcome the harm caused to the Green Belt and other factors.