A planning application seeking permission for two new warehouses in an East Cambridgeshire village will be decided tomorrow (August 7).

East Cambridgeshire District Council are set to hold a Planning Committee meeting at 2pm, where the fate of the proposed warehouses will be decided.

In February 2023, the council received a planning application for the build of 4,527 square metres of commercial floor space and two warehouse buildings at White Hall Warehouse on Lynn Road in Littleport.

The application was submitted by Unit One Store Ltd, an art storage, logistics, installation and bespoke photography space company based on Lynn Road in Littleport. They say that the warehouses and commercial space will help expand their growing business.

The warehouses are proposed to be built on agricultural land, and if they are approved, they are due to be covered by a screen of trees to protect the landscape of the area.

Ahead of the planning meeting on August 7, Littleport Town Council offered up their support for the application. In a letter submitted to the East Cambridgeshire District Council planning portal, the Town Clerk confirmed that the council recommend approval of the application.

The Planning Team at the District Council also recommend the approval of the application.

However during the planning process, locals nearby raised objections to the warehouses. In a letter submitted to East Cambridgeshire District Council, one statement read: "We bought our property so we had a countryside view. This will be vastly compromised by the proposed development, not to mention our loss of privacy.

"There is then the question of noise. A unit of the proposed size with the best will in the world is going to create a large amount of noise."

Another nearby resident raised concerns about the traffic and where the access road will be. They wrote: "Regarding the traffic on the A10, would you please come and sit at the entrance to the proposed site and see the volume of traffic, especially in the morning and evening? 

"People have been killed in accidents outside our houses in the past, and there are frequent near misses with people coming off of the roundabout and overtaking if they see the slightest bit of clear road in the oncoming traffic.

"You are considering access from one of the most dangerous pieces of road in the county and I fear there will be more fatalities."

The concerns over the landscape were at the forefront of the objection: "We will lose any countryside views we had to inappropriate metal clad boxes.

"I’m all for progress but this proposal is inappropriate for visual, safety and privacy reasons and I hope someone has the sense to refuse it as such."

The future of the warehouses will be decided on August 7 at 2pm.