Hampton Brook Ltd is a privately owned property development and investment company focusing predominantly on the east midlands and southeast. On behalf of Hampton Brook, DLP worked constructively with Milton Keynes Council from the early stages of the plan making process to support the allocation of land comprising about 57ha at South Caldecotte, comprising the only free-standing employment allocation in the development plan known as Plan:MK.

The allocation was considered at an EiP in summer 2018 and in his Final Report the Inspector noted that the allocation was ”soundly based and … effective in meeting forecast economic growth in the early to middle period of Plan:MK”.

The intention of the allocation was to provide for “the development of large footprint B2/B8 units to meet the requirement for this type of commercial floorspace in Milton Keynes”.

DLP subsequently worked with Officers in the preparation of a draft development brief which the Council indicated they would adopt as a Supplementary Planning Document. The Brief determined a number of criteria relating to matters such as the point of access and the scale and again in March 2019 immediately following the Inspector’s final report on the EiP.

The Inspector’s Report and draft SPD informed the preparation of a planning application notwithstanding that following the second consultation the Council determined not to adopt the SPD.

An application was then submitted in in compliance with the criteria of development plan Policy which required a minimum of 195,000m² of floorspace. An Indicative Masterplan illustrated a development footprint of 216,567m² plus a further 24,684m² from provision of mezzanine levels within the units, to provide ancillary office accommodation.

After lengthy negotiations the Council resolved to refuse the application principally on archaeological grounds and its habitat value - a reason related to highway matters was subsequently resolved with Highways England. Neither archaeology nor ecological constraints had been exercised as considerations in the allocation of the site.

In the subsequent appeal DLP argued that the decision maker is obliged to weigh the harm that may be judged to arise with the benefits identified to follow from the development. An amended Masterplan was put forward which address archaeological concerns and still achieved in excess of the policy requirements. DLP argued successfully that there was an essential economic need for the development to meet the specific elements of market demand that had been identified, to accommodate a range and type of development for which there were no other available alternatives and that not deliver the site for the purposes intended would have a very significant impact on the local economy, on job creation and on the economic and social well-being of the City.

The Inspector concurred and the Appeal was upheld. The site was subsequently sold to PLP a specialist logistics developer and Phase 1 (98,000sqm) has now been completed.