LONG Sutton metal fabrication workshop Statech has been given planning consent to move from Wisbech Road to a vacant bus and coach depot in the village’s Seagate Road.
The parish council offered no objections to the move, as long as nearby residents are not affected, but several residents wrote to the district council complaining about the potential for noise.
Villagers also raised concerns about heavy lorries using narrow lanes and plans for an “eyesore” galvanised fence around the site.
Resident Lionel Merz attended South Holland’s planning committee and addressed councillors on behalf of neighbours about industrial use in a “quiet hamlet”.
He said the plan created no extra jobs and the move to Seagate Road would leave another site empty.
He said: “At the moment, Statech has five immediate households including their landlord and a builder’s yard – the proposed site has 11 households, none of which are stakeholders.
“Statech at the moment have direct access to the A1101. The proposed site is on a narrow B road with at least two households to pass in order to gain access to the A1101 or A17.”
Coun Chris Brewis said Statech were good neighbours and as far as he knew there had never been a complaint from people living near their current site.
Planning committee chairman Coun Roger Gambba-Jones said the planning consent was limited to Statech – and would not transfer to any new business there.
The plan was passed with conditions including limiting working hours to 8am-6pm Mondays-Fridays and 8am-noon on Saturdays. All work must be carried out within the building and with doors closed.