New large warehouse plan for derelict Corby card factory site

The derelict UK Greetings site on Corby' s Earlstrees Industrial Estate could be developed under a new plan submitted to the council.

The steel structure was stripped back after the card manufacturer and distributor moved out and the site, next to the Chemence headquarters, has lain empty ever since.

Now London-based Canmoor Developments has submitted plans to North Northamptonshire Council to build a new speculative warehouse on the seven-acre brownfield site. No tenant has yet been secured but the site is already being marketed to potential clients.

It is envisaged the metal-clad building will have a footprint of 16,500 square metres.- about the size of two football pitches. There will also be 162 parking spaces.

Planning permission was originally granted for a food manufacturing plant in 2017 but the site was never occupied so permission lapsed.

A new application has now been submitted.

The applicant states: "The site was the subject to a previous planning application in 2017 for a known occupier however when the tenant backed out, the proposal was abandoned.

"Despite this, enabling works for the proposed development (which had been approved under a separate application in January 2017) had already begun including demolition of the existing offices and the dismantling of the warehouse element down to the portal frame for re-use in the proposed scheme.

"The site is currently made up of hardstanding, scrub land, and rubble left over from the previous landowner’s enabling works, as well as there being the remnants of the steel frame referred to previously."

The Highways Authority has raised several concerns over the plan including insufficient car parking spaces and the lack of up-to-date traffic data contained within the application.

Warehouse developments in our area have been under the spotlight in recent months as they are increasingly being staffed by people travelling into the area from other cities, while people from Corby and other areas are keen for other types of work to become available. There is also a lack of housing for those moving to Corby to work in warehouses, pushing prices up and squeezing local people out of the market.

You can view the plans and comment on them here.