Business park plan turned down by inspector

An artist's impression of Buckden Land's plan to build 15 business units beside the A14

A developer has lost its fight to build a new business park beside a dual carriageway.

Buckden Land Ltd wanted to build 15 business units on land off Buckden Road, south of Brampton, Cambridgeshire, beside the A14.

But a planning inspector did not believe the economic benefits of the development would be enough to outweigh the harm it could cause.

The company had lodged an appeal against Huntingdonshire District Council after it failed to make a decision on the application in the required period.

The business park would offer space for small and medium businesses and would provide “high quality, much needed industrial estate”, according to Buckden Land.

It said there was a “strong demand” for small and medium business units in the area, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The council said it did not support the development for a number of reasons. It questioned whether the development was needed and raised concerns over its impact on the landscape and character of the area.

The planning inspector said: "The evidence before me is not persuasive of a significant unmet need for smaller commercial and/or industrial development that the [local plan] is failing to deliver."

The project would “undermine the restoration efforts” being made to integrate the road into the landscape, and the inspector added that the A14 road corridor had an "overwhelmingly rural character to either side of the road".

“In that context... the proposal would introduce an uncharacteristic urbanising form of development, not related visually or functionally to the countryside, that would stand out as an isolated and conspicuous feature in the rural landscape," the inspector said.