TOWN councillors are to re-examine the controversial plan to move a well-established Petersfield business and build a desperately needed enterprise centre on The Causeway. Councillors made the surprise decision at their planning meeting on Tuesday night. They took it after fencing manufacturer JB Corrie produced new evidence showing that there was nowhere else for it to go in Petersfield. The multi-million pound planning package designed to create an enterprise centre and give Corrie a new home for its long-established Frenchman's Road business was unveiled to town councillors in February. The ambitious and innovative project was born as JB Corrie carried out a desperate search to relocate to more modern premises. And it claimed it had presented initial proposals to East Hampshire district councillors last November and been encouraged to expand on them. But Petersfield town councillors agonised over the plans last month. They decided they could not support it because it was on land outside the settlement boundary of the town and was not included in the Local Plan as an industrial site. Councillors said they were in a cleft stick because they were anxious to keep JB Corrie in the town, and were also keen to gain the small start-up business units the enterprise centre would provide. Crucially, they said they felt they couldn't support the plan as the government inspector examining the Local Plan had declared that the Causeway south application site should be protected against development. But town councillor Chris Jenner warned fellow councillors at the time that the chance for the enterprise centre could be lost forever. He believed the benefits of the application outweighed the objections. And this week, he called on them to take another look at the plan in view of Corrie's new evidence. "We have seen employment land diminish when it has gone for housing. We have seen it with the old organ factory, with Swan Street, and with College Street. "When we discussed this plan before, some people were of the opinion that they would rather see Corrie's investigate other sites. But as they have shown here, there are no other sites suitable in Petersfield. "In light of the content of this evidence, I think there is sufficient new information for us to discuss this again and put new comments into the district council when they debate the Causeway South site on May 1." Mr Jenner reminded councillors there was a mechanism for changing the use of a site. If councillors were minded to approve Corrie's Causeway South application, it would be called in by the Secretary of State for community and local government who would make a decision or allow the council to make it for them. Mr Jenner said he believed that district councillors would look favourably on the plan. He said: "Allegedly, it was a district council officer who identified it to Corrie in the first place. This is an important issue for Petersfield, there is very little manufacturing land left in the town." George Watkinson urged town councillors to write to East Hampshire District Council asking officers to look at the provision of new sites. "We should say that the amount of industrial land has reduced, much of it having been turned into housing, and we hope the district council will identify fresh areas which may be used for industry, particularly for an enterprise centre." And committee chairman Mary Vincent said she believed Corrie had made a thorough investigation of the area to find a site: "If there is nothing suitable, they are really up a gum tree," she claimed. In their employment land uses report, experts for Corrie highlighted four sites identified for industrial and office use in Petersfield since 2001 – at Vision Park, Buckmore Farm, Heath Farm, and Rushes Road. Vision Park was complete, according to the report, and no land was available for development. The Rushes Road site had been redeveloped for residential use and the Heath Farm site was far too small to accommodate JB Corrie. Buckmore Farm had been earmarked for B1 office, research and development and light industrial use, which ruled the JB Corrie B2 industrial operation out. Consultant Mark Carrington reported: "No sites or buildings are available at the existing Bedford Road Industrial Estate. The former Estee Lauder premises have been re-let to a wholesale flower importer. It is therefore clear that no alternative site exists in Petersfield to accommodate JB Corrie." Mr Carrington said the employment land in Petersfield had reduced from 8.3 hectares to 2.1 hectares. "A major employer has left the town due to the lack of available alternative sites," he said. "Other small employment sites have been deemed obsolete and have been redeveloped for other uses, and now a further major employer is unable to find an identified site to meet its requirements."
