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07
Jan 2022
New plans submitted for smaller Dunlopillo development
Plans have been submitted to build an apartment block with fewer homes than what has already been agreed at the former Dunlopillo factory in Pannal.
Developer Echo Green Developments was granted planning permission in September 2021 to demolish the main office block and build 48 apartments.
However, the decision, which was made under permitted development rights, was met with anger from some residents. Pannal historian Anne Smith said the village would be lumbered with a "skyscraper-type building" due to its extra two storeys.
Conservative MP Andrew Jones also spoke out against the scheme and said it should have been decided by a vote from the council's planning committee.
Office-to-residential permitted development rights were brought in under the Conservative government and can be used by developers to fast track the redevelopment of disused offices.
Fewer apartments
The developer has now submitted new plans which would supersede the previously approved plans.
It includes 38 apartments, fewer than the original proposal, but would still be two storeys taller than the demolished building.
Architect drawings of how the building would look.
Commenting on his website, Andrew Jones MP said:
Read more:
Review launched into council’s handling of Dunlopillo housing plans
Pannal left with ‘eyesore’ Dunlopillo apartments, says parish council
History of the site
From 1938 to 1949 the site was occupied by the Bintex factory, which manufactured radar equipment for use during the Second World War.
It was bought by rubber manufacturer Dunlop, which changed its name to Dunlopillo and made the site its headquarters.
It is estimated around 440 people worked there in its 1970s and 80s heyday producing pillows, mattresses, beds and latex cushioning for cars.
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