Plans for a major new storage and distribution facility in Stoke-on-Trent have been approved, despite concerns over potential flood risks.
Applicant Amatrix Stoke PropCo Limited has secured planning permission for a large-scale ‘last mile’ logistics centre at Trentham Lakes, featuring a warehouse with 13,860 square metres of storage space, 1,423 square metres of office accommodation and a multi-storey van deck with nearly 700 van bays.
The Stanley Matthews Way site, previously home to Pets at Home’s national distribution centre, will be redeveloped to include a service yard with 12 HGV docks, parking for staff and visitors, a new access point and extensive landscaping.
It has not yet been revealed who will occupy the site, or how many jobs the scheme could create.
The Lead Local Flood Authority had raised concerns about a culvert beneath the proposed van deck, although independent analysis supported the applicant’s view that the culvert was redundant and that the site is at low risk of flooding.
The plans were approved at a meeting of Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s planning committee yesterday (30 July).
As part of the approval, the developer will contribute more than £100,000 towards local highway improvements and active transport measures through a Section 106 agreement.
This has been broken down as £53,788 towards improvements to bus facilities at Stanley
Matthews Way and a payment of £52,500 towards highway improvement works at the Stanley Matthews
Way/Trentham Road/Alderflat Drive junction.
Councillor Andy Platt, chair of the planning committee, said: “I think this is to be welcomed. It’s a 20-year-old site and the reuse of the site is very positive.”
Pets at Home moved to a new facility near Stafford in 2023. Demolition of the existing warehouse is expected later this year, with construction of the new facility to follow.
Read the original Daily Focus story about the site’s plans here.
