8:33 am, June 8, 2023
Hippo Motor Group has been given the green light to build a 321-vehicle showroom despite fears about its size and lighting.
The firm will build the 660 sq metre dealership at Millbank Business Park in Lower Darwen on what used to be a paper mill, reports the Lancashire Telegraph.
The group bought the disused and rundown site, which had outline planning permission, in July 2022.
Now the land is set for a new lease of life after the application for the multi-million-pound showroom was approved by Blackburn with Darwen Council planners.
It’s a modified plan of one that was approved earlier, with a large car showroom now added, which will use black and silver metal-faced cladding.
Executive member for growth and development Cllr Quesir Mahmood hailed the scheme. He was quoted by the newspaper as saying: ‘It is positive to see this company staying in and investing in the borough.
‘It is great to see they they are expanding.’
A resident had objected about the development’s size, how it looked, a possible noise nuisance as well as traffic problems.
And Cllr Derek Hardman told the planning meeting of his concerns about the effect that night-time security lighting would have on nearby houses, saying the new building would ‘stick out like a sore thumb’.
However, planning manager Gavin Prescott was reported as saying that a condition would mean the lights would point down so as not to affect anyone.
Meanwhile, Blackburn-based prestige car dealership Autolab, which is in Gate Street at the moment, is poised to win approval next Thursday (15 Jun) for its plan to build a £4m showroom in the town.
Blackburn with Darwen Council’s planning and highways committee has been recommended to grant permission for the new dealership in Carl Fogarty Way, which will also have offices, parking and a valet garage – albeit with 23 conditions.
The Lancashire Telegraph quoted a planning officer’s report that said the building on the 9,500 sq m site that it bought last October would be ‘a statement piece of architecture’.
The planning report also said: ‘At up to nine metres in height, it would appear as an overtly prominent building. That said, large commercial buildings form part of the prevailing character of the area and a similar building has been recently approved.’
It added: ‘The proposals will cause some harm to the significance of the listed building.
‘However, as the historic setting has already been significantly compromised by the surrounding modern changes, the level of harm caused would be slight.
‘On that basis, the proposed building would be acceptable.’
Autolab has said it will give £60,000 to improving public transport, walking and cycling routes if the scheme goes ahead.
