Residents in a Gloucestershire village have told GB News they feel “diminished” after a huge warehouse began construction just metres away from their gardens.
In Pilning, a 65-feet tall warehouse, better known to locals as the mega-shed, rises more than 65-feet in the sky.
Construction of what is officially an “industrial distribution hub” has been allowed to go ahead due old planning consent dating back to 1957.
The scheme was part of a post-war building initiative allowing developers to build without a full public consultation, leaving locals in the dark.
Similar developments in other parts of the country have spurred on 30 locals to start the Severnside Community Action Group.
Joanne McCready is helping to lead the group and told GB News her concerns.
She said: “This is a ginormous mega-shed. There’ll be light pollution, noise pollution, and the lorries will be coming down our B road.
“If it was the original height, which I think was around 16 metres, we wouldn’t see this, and it wouldn’t be as big of an issue. This is like an airport hangar!”
Joanne McCready (Left) is helping to lead the group and told GB News her concerns
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GB NEWS
Neighbours meet frequently to discuss concerns and plan their fight back. Similarly sized developments are planned to be built along to the next village.
Richard May told GB News: “People here want a quieter, more peaceful life and bit by bit, that’s being eroded.”
His wife Olena added: “We feel diminished, like we aren’t human.”
The stadium-sized structure towers above the roofs of the nearby houses and is just 153 metres from Sue Jones’ back garden.
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The stadium-sized structure towers above the roofs of the nearby houses
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Richard Shaw
She said: “I think it’s absolutely disgraceful that they’ve been allowed to build something that high, and of that magnitude, so close to the properties.”
Local estate agents estimate the warehouse has devalued house prices in the area by 10 per cent.
Retired policeman Paul Selby is greeted by the warehouse every time he opens his curtains.
He said: “I don’t think you need to be a magician to work out that they’ve not taken any account of the impact the thing’s going to have on the local area. You can see it from all over the place, and everybody has commented that it’s completely spoilt what was a rural village.”
A spokesman for South Gloucestershire Council, said: “Much of the new development at Severnside is governed by a planning permission granted in 1957, pre-dating both South Gloucestershire Council and probably the arrival of many local residents in Easter Compton.
“This permission gives wide-ranging powers for development with limited remaining control for the council to exercise.”
A Government spokesman added: “Councils are ultimately responsible for reviewing old permissions if the development is no longer suitable and deciding whether action is necessary.”
Local MP Claire Young believes similar developments around the country mean it is a matter for parliament. The Liberal Democrat told GB News: “At the moment, the government appears to be saying, ‘it’s not really our problem’, and I think it is. That’s why I want to get a minister in front of me in the chamber, so I can explain what I think the problem is, and what could be done about it.”