Planning permission has been granted to create a new coffee shop and additional car parking for a major employer at Stonehouse Park near Stroud.
The mixed-use scheme will transform a small, vacant, triangular plot at the entrance to the business park into a new coffee shop and drive-through facility with 32 customer car spaces to be occupied by Costa Coffee, along with a separate 42-space car park for world-beating engineering company Sartorius Stedim.
The planning application was turned down by Stroud District Council in August 2018. An appeal to the Secretary of State was granted on July 17 2019.
Inspector Helen O’Connor said in her report: “The proposal would be an appropriate location for the development and would constitute a complementary ancillary use to the surrounding key employment sites.
“The proposal would not lead to significant impacts on the transport networks in terms of capacity and congestion.”
Robert Hitchins Ltd has developed a range of high-quality office and manufacturing facilities at Stonehouse Park for companies including National Nuclear Laboratory, Schenck Process UK, Club Communications Ltd, Green Gourmet and Sartorius Stedim Lab Ltd.
The site at the entrance, Plot G, is the last phase of the development.
Senior Development Manager for Robert Hitchins Ltd, Michael Plimmer, said the application for the mixed-use scheme had received a lot of local support from the business community
“This is the last piece of the jigsaw at Stonehouse Park. From what is a fairly small, awkward-shaped site we are delighted to have been able to design a scheme with a high-quality coffee shop that will provide a much-needed facility and meeting place for the surrounding business parks, together with an important car parking facility for local employer Sartorius to assist with their future growth needs.”
