Major new business site the size of 36 football pitches under consideration for Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes Council (MKC) has sought further advice about a scheme by MK Manco (Jersey) Ltd for a huge new business space off Brickhill Street in Bow Brickhill, known as the South Caldecotte site.

The outline application is for a single unit of employment space at 264,000 sqm and up to 28 metres high, with offices, decked car parking and a service yard, intended for storage and distribution.

Vehicle access would be via a new roundabout on Brickhill Street.

To give an idea of the size of this proposed development, the average football pitch is 7,140 sqm.

The plans were submitted in November 2021. The wider, triangular-shaped area of land the site lies within is arable and pastureland, also under employment-related development.

To the north is a wildlife corridor parallel with the railway, and to the west, an area of proposed green space, which includes an archaeological area.

An application for Zones 1, 3 and 4 of the wider scheme has been permitted by MKC. The application site is Zone 2. However, development limits within Zone 2 require a maximum floorspace of 95,500 sqm, and a building height limit of 24 metres.

“The current proposal for Zone 2 exceeds these parameters meaning that the proposal cannot be brought forward through a reserved matters application,” a report states. “It is therefore proposed to secure the revised development through the submission of a full planning application.”

As a result, MKC has issued a Scoping Opinion Request (under Environmental Impact Assessment regulations) to consultees, including, among others, Natural England, and the Environment Agency. Broadly, this ‘requests an opinion on what should be in a developer’s Environmental Statement (ES)’.

Because the scheme involves the construction of a “larger and taller” building than what is permitted, the effect of certain matters such as archaeology, flood risk and drainage, ecology, and even “accidents and disasters”, must be revisited.

In this instance, effects that “cannot be ruled out at this time” include air quality, landscape and visual impact, noise and vibration, and traffic and transportation.

The agent, Michael Sparks Associates was unavailable for further details.

To view and comment on the plans, use planning portal reference: 21/03433/EIASCO.