Luton councillor claims round-the-clock factory would be 'a total and utter disaster area'

A round-the-clock water bottling operation by French company Roxane is proposed at Butterfield Business Park off Great Marlings in Stopsley.

Concerns about the plans were expressed at a previous council meeting in November (see here).

"The landscaping won't in any way mitigate this particular blight on the area," Liberal Democrat Stopsley councillor David Wynn told a meeting of the borough council's development control committee.

"This is a single storey industrial building which is about the equivalent of a three-storey high block of flats," he said.

Regarding the impact on the residents of Butterfield Green Road, councillor Wynn warned: "It's the wrong sort of factory building in the wrong place on the industrial estate.

"We're hopeless at enforcing any of these (planning) conditions. It's going to be a total and utter disaster area."

After initial approval by the chairman's casting vote, the project will be put on ice for a few weeks because Conservative Bramingham councillor Gilbert Campbell has asked for a deferral to a future council meeting.

Applicant Henry Boot Developments Ltd submitted full plans for a commercial unit and associated outbuildings for general industrial floorspace and the extraction of water, with parking and landscaping on a nine-and-a-half acre field.

Planning officer Abi Chapman said: "It consists of a single L-shaped building, with production facilities, warehouse space, offices, a storage area and two small outbuildings located over two drilled bore holes.

"Underground pipes will carry the extracted water to the commercial building.

"It won't have an impact on Stopsley Common, which is an area of great landscape value."

Liberal Democrat Stopsley councillor Richard Underwood expressed fears about the impact of the development on Luton as a whole.

"We know congestion and pollution are serious problems in the town," he said.

"This site operating 24/7 is going to add to this. And what happens to the plastic bottles?

"If the recovery rate of the plastic is poor, it will end up in landfill or in the general environment."

Senior director at Henry Boot Developments Adrian Schofield said: "The proposal is for a well-established French company Roxane to build a hi-tech water bottling facility, with an investment of more than £40m.

"Expenditure of this scale in a post-Brexit world by a French-owned company, in Luton, must be welcomed by the local authority.

"As well as employment generated in the building process, it's estimated the proposed plant will create 53 permanent jobs and Roxane will commit to working with local colleges to provide three apprenticeship jobs."

Partner in Knight Frank's planning team Nick Diment acknowledged there would be "an urbanising effect on the environment".

"We've sought to address the concerns of residents," he explained.

"The noise mitigation includes acoustic barriers which meet the required standards.

"The application will deliver sustainable economic development and will provide key benefits for Luton, including job creation and inward investment at a time of economic uncertainty."

The vote was five in favour of approval and five against, with Labour Farley councillor Dave Taylor using his casting vote to back the scheme, only for it to be deferred to full council.