Client: Klondyke Group
Brookside Garden Centre was established in the early 1960s and taken over by the Klondyke Group in 2008 and is traded under the William Strike Ltd brand.
The garden centre is set in extensive grounds to the south east of Stockport and features attractions including Brookside miniature railway, model shop and Brookside Pottery.
In 2014 planning permission was granted for the development of the A6 to Manchester airport relief road which involved the north western corner of the garden centre site being taken over to form part of the new road development and new access arrangements were necessary.
The highways works made it necessary to make certain amendments to the layout of the site, it also provided an opportunity for a comprehensive review of the existing offer on the site and make any changes necessary or beneficial to the business.
Pleydell Smithyman worked with Klondyke Group to create a strategy for the future development of the site, which included a new café building, an extension to an existing glass house building, removal of existing structures on the site and internal alterations to existing buildings.
As the site is located within the Green Belt, it was necessary to demonstrate that the development was not inappropriate. The development was considered to fall into the category of "limited infilling or the partial or complete redevelopment of previously developed sites (brownfield land), whether redundant or in continuing use (excluding temporary buildings), which would not have a greater impact on the openness of the Green Belt and the purpose of including land within it than the existing development" which is one of the exception criteria for development not considered to be inappropriate as set out within the NPPF. The Local Planning Authority agreed with this approach and in this regard the development was justified as acceptable within the Green Belt and the application was approved in June 2016.