Frasers Group has gained approval for controversial plans for a new campus headquarters in Warwickshire.
Frasers Group’s headquarters are currently located in Shirebrook in Derbyshire with warehousing and other company facilities throughout the country. The new proposals seek to relocate the headquarters and to condense the warehouse operation into one location.
The application site is located approximately 100m to the south-west of the village of Ansty and approximately 6.7km to the north-east of Coventry City centre. It is situated entirely within the West Midlands Greenbelt. The site covers an area of 112.9 hectares and is predominantly arable farmland.
The site will be arranged with a ‘campus heart’ at its centre which will include the office headquarters, concept retail research & development (R&D), leisure R&D, a day care nursery, a development and learning academy, 100-room hotel, mobility hub, and convenience retail and food and beverage uses.
To the northwest of this, group accommodation is proposed with 80 units and shared common room space, and to the south of the site from west to east five logistics buildings with associated offices and parking are proposed. A number of ancillary structures will support utilities and security for the site.
Frasers anticiaptes 7,680 jobs to be based on site.
Throughout the lifetime of the application, 191 letters of objection from 124 addresses have been received.
Ahead of giving the green light to the application, Rugby Borough Council said: “Overall, the totality of the economic, environmental and social benefits have been considered and the totality of the benefits clearly outweigh the combined weight of the harm to the Green Belt and any other harm, including the retail and landscape harm, heritage harm and harm in respect to the failure to satisfy the sequential test.
“Consequently, the very special circumstances necessary to justify the development do exist and the application should be approved.”
