Cheshire Smokehouse
Cheshire Smokehouse, near Wilmslow, is a local business success story. We helped the smokehouse secure planning permission for a much-needed new facility in the Green Belt, ensuring its success for years to come.
Credit: Shove Media
For: Cheshire Smokehouse
What is it: A new manufacturing facility in the Green Belt for an important local business.
Local Planning Authority: Cheshire East Council
What we did: As a result of its own success, local business the Cheshire Smokehouse outgrew its smoking facility and needed a new building to support its growth, adhere to modern food hygiene standards and maintain its role as a local employer.
We advised on the planning strategy to justify the re-development of its existing site in the Cheshire Green Belt.
The local planning authority accepted our case and approved the scheme in June 2023.
Credit: Shove Media
The challenge
Established in 1907, but in its current location since the 1990s, the smokehouse had expanded over time, adapting farm buildings to accommodate its smoking facility and speciality food shop.
While the business managed admirably for many decades, the premises had become outdated, unable to expand to meet demand or accommodate modern food standard practices. The time had come to start afresh.
It was important to safeguard its future on the site, not only in its role as a local employer, but supporting local food security and sustaining other livelihoods through its role smoking other local food produce and selling produce to local restaurants.
The challenge was clear: the smoking facility lies within the Cheshire Green Belt.
Complicating matters further, the business needed to continue operating during the build out period so the new building couldn’t be on the footprint of the existing.
The solution
We understood that the business’s legacy and unique story was central to the case. It was important that officers appreciated the role the smokehouse plays in the local economy and why the new building couldn’t be on the same footprint. So, we engaged with the local planning authority early on, giving them a tour of the site. Cheshire East doesn’t offer formal pre-application advice, so our positive working relationship with officers proved really valuable.
We delivered quality public consultation events and engaged with local groups including Transition Wilmslow, local councillors and MPs, which proved very positive. Local MP Esther McVey spoke in the House of Commons on the importance of supporting local businesses, referencing the Cheshire Smokehouse specifically.
Informed by case law, we argued that the new facility was sited on previously development land and therefore was an exception to national Green Belt policy. We also built an argument for why it would also count as a “very special circumstance” if the Council were to view it as “unacceptable development in the Green Belt”. This focused on the business’s role in the local economy.
Credit: Shove Media
The design team worked hard to retain and protect existing landscaping and supplement with new, demonstrating through a robust visual impact assessment that there was no impact on the openness of the Green Belt.
The Council accepted our argument but requested that the footprint be reduced. We held our ground, justifying the size of the proposed building and helping officers understand why the design was essential for operations. We highlighted how despite a 40% increase in floorspace – a crucial design requirement – the footprint would remain as existing and, critically, the new building would have no greater impact on the openness of the Green Belt.
The benefits
Our focus on telling the story of the Smokehouse’s predicament proved to be hugely valuable. Stakeholders and decision makers could come to the site and appreciate the genuine problem with the current site and why a new building was needed. Community engagement was not only critical for reaching a consensus but in painting a clear picture of the vital role the business plays in the locale.
Because of our collaborative and trustworthy approach, the case for building on the Green Belt was clear. We achieved our aim to get all parties on side from the outset.
We advocated for our client’s requirements, reaching consensus with the planners on the scheme our client really wanted which would future proof the building for many years to come.
The Cheshire Smokehouse really is a local business success story. Beyond providing local jobs on site, the business supports many other local businesses: it smokes food from the adjacent farm, supplies smoked foods to local restaurants and sells wares from other businesses in the Smokehouse shop. This crucial scheme safeguards this sustainable food chain, making a meaningful difference to the local community and the local economy.