Keynsham firm IJ McGill Transport has won permission for a massive warehouse extension which will support businesses in Bath and Bristol.
The IJ McGill site in Keynsham
IJ McGill Transport Ltd has depots in Devon, Buckinghamshire, Midlands and Manchester and operates the UK-wide company from its Avon Mill Lane site in Keynsham.
The warehousing and storage business is complementary to the distribution business.
In 2019 McGill’s relocated from Unity Road in Keynsham to the former Keynsham Paper Mill site at Avon Mill Lane, which had been used for the last two decades by DS Smith for paper recycling.
The planning application submitted to Bath & North East Somerset Council sought permission to extend the warehouse that McGill’s built in 2022, and to demolish some of the existing buildings on the site to improve the layout.
A planning statement with the application said: “Since Covid and with the impact of Brexit and the war in Ukraine, together with other global issues affecting supply routes, UK companies are making greater use of storage to ensure they have a good supply of stock for their customers.
“This has seen a growth in the warehouse storage business for IJ McGill Transport Ltd with the new warehouse that was built in 2022 now full to capacity.”
The statement added: “The storage facility serves, and will support in the future, local businesses in Bath and Bristol, providing sustainable solutions and the ability to distribute goods to these local centres on smaller vehicles.
“Goods for storage arrive on site in shipping containers for unloading and transfer into the warehouse.”
The layout takes into account the possibility of a long-talked-about new link road to the north of the site.
In their analysis, council planners said the proposed warehouse extension is “sizeable, indeed more than double the size of the warehouse to which it is to adjoin”.
There will be a net gain in floorspace of 3,702.59 square metres. It will be the same height, at approximately 15.8 metres at the peak of the pitch and around 14.2 metres at the eaves.
“Whilst, generally, extensions to existing buildings are sought to be subservient, this is not the case here.
“However, given the proposed use and resultant building which will have the appearance of a cohesive warehouse, the extension is considered to be an acceptable expansion,” the planning officers said.
They noted that permission for the warehouse in 2022 did not include any restrictions on hours of operation.
The site operates 24 hours a day but given the existing use and degree of separation from the nearest homes which are more than 100 metres away to the south of the railway line, controls of hours of use were not considered reasonable or necessary.
The planners noted that a construction management plan sets out reasonable hours of construction work.
The council had received one objection and two general comments highlighting that the expansion of premises will result in more lorries using the surrounding roads; Keynsham Town Council had also raised concerns.
Following initial comments from B&NES Council highway officers, an updated transport statement was submitted and it was accepted that the proposed extension would not result in a significant adverse traffic impact.
The flood risk assessment that was submitted had failed to take into account the impacts of climate change, but updated information was provided following discussions with the Environment Agency, which then withdrew its objection.
It is envisaged that the warehouse extension will increase the workforce by 10.
The given number of full-time employees is 116 with three-part-time staff.
