Samas Roneo – what next ?
At long last, some might say, or a travesty for others the former Samas Roneo warehouse will shortly be no more.
For a whole generation of local’s myself included, the sight of the Samas Roneo Warehouse meant you were almost home, with some of my childhood memories and I suspect others been of the shout on the bus when Samas Roneo came into view to put your coat on or wake up and get ready to get off the bus because your almost home.
However, once it’s fully gone what comes next?
At current the field to the left (looking at Samas Roneo from the junction with Melandra Castle Road) and the warehouse site itself has outline planning permission for a maximum of 93 ‘dewlings’.
This outline planning permission (application HPK/2014/0665) was approved in April 2015, but before building can start, the developers need to submit what is called a reserve matters application.
Essentially the reserve matters application is the full details of what the development will actually look like, as opposed to the outline application which basically allocates the site for development and in the case of some application will determine where the vehicle access routes will be.
Those full details will include the exact location within the site for the houses, what type of houses, the construction materials, open space, parking and any of the other details needed to make the application complete.
In the case of the Samas Roneo site, to date, no reserve matters application has been submitted.
Now in the case of this site, the lack of a reserve matters application may present a problem, because when the current planning application was approved back in April 2015, it included the following clause :
Application for approval of the reserved matters shall be made to the Local Planning Authority before the expiration of 3 years from the date of this planning permission.
This would mean potentially in three days’ time, that the current planning permission will lapse because no reserve matters application has been made.
Alas for those of you that don’t want to see building on the site, it doesn’t mean that building won’t happen, the reason for this is that essentially the concept of building there has already been approved by the 2 previous outline planning applications that have already been approved.
One of the things that it could mean is that whilst it is different developers involved to the plans that locals will have been leafleted on last year (see May 2017 on the Samas Roneo issues page by clicking here). The current developers may be wanting to submit a new application along the same lines ie seeking planning permission for both the fields either side of the former Samas Roneo warehouse as well as the warehouse itself.
So for now, we don’t know exactly what will come next, the likelihood is housing – but as to whether it will be just the former warehouse and the field to left as is currently approved or a more substantial development covering both fields we will have to wait and see – whichever it is, as soon as there are details it will be posted here.
