Plans for new business park in Derbyshire which would have created 100 jobs refused

Plans to create a new business park in a Derbyshire village which would have created around 100 jobs have been rejected.

Talbot Group, which operates Talbot Turf Supplies and Talbot Farm Landscapes, had applied to South Derbyshire District Council to build new offices and business units on its Derby Road base, in Hilton.

Dubbed Talbot Farm Nursery, the brownfield site has been the group’s trading base for the past 30 years. It has also been a goods vehicle operating centre for the company’s lorries since Talbot Turf Supplies’ inception in 1989.

In its application to the district council, Talbot, which supplies turf to a number of major sporting venues, said that it needed to create more space due to the ongoing success of its businesses.

It also wanted to create additional units because of the “high demand” for such space in the area.

Talbot Turf supplies turf to major sporting venues (Talbot Group)

The proposals involved creating almost 2,500 square metres of floor space across nine units to be used for “industrial and commercial” purposes.

As part of the development, five eight-metre tall buildings would have been constructed.

But at a recent meeting of the authority’s planning committee, councillors rejected the scheme - despite planning officers recommending that the project be approved.

At the meeting, councillors said that the eight-metre-tall units would be imposing, out of place, and have an “undue” impact on the amenity of the area.

The district council had also received some objections from villagers concerned about the potential increase in commercial vehicles on the local road network.

Plans to expand Badger Farm Business Park were recently rejected (Derby Telegraph)

The decision by the planning committee comes after a similar scheme at Hilton was also recently rejected.

Bowler Adams LLP had applied to build a pair of offices blocks at the Badger Farm Business Park, in Willowpit Lane, which would have generated 240 jobs.

The buildings would have been identical, each offering almost 2,000 sq metres of office space, and designed to match existing commercial buildings at the former farm site.

But in September, the district council decided to refuse permission for the development, arguing that the scale of the scheme was out of step with its rural location.

It added that it believed there were more suitable sites for such a development in more urban areas.