- The site will include five warehouses, a hotel, offices and a multi-storey car park.
A Warwickshire village has become one of the first major battlegrounds over Labour’s plans to build in the green belt.
Residents in the village of Ansty, near Coventry, are opposing plans by FTSE 100 company Frasers Group to build a new base using 275 acres of prime green belt farmland, the Telegraph reported.
The retail group, owned by billionaire businessman Mike Ashley, is behind brands including Sports Direct, Jack Wills and Evans Cycles.
Mike Ashley’s megacampus: Frasers Group plans to build new base on 275 acres of green belt farmland
It bought the development site for £53.5m in 2021 and there are now just two weeks left for locals to lodge objections to the plans.
The site will include five warehouses totalling 3.3 million square feet, a hotel, offices, a gym and a swimming pool, as well as a training academy with classrooms, an auditorium, a daycare centre, a multi-storey car park and a helipad.
Frasers expects the campus to create 7,700 jobs, boosting the local economy and also generating around £9m in business tax for the council.
A Frasers Group spokesperson told the Telegraph: ‘We have appointed a world-class team to develop the plans so that, if approved, the campus will respect the immediate area and have a positive impact on the biodiversity of the site.
“As a leading UK employer and taxpayer, we look forward to the benefits this campus would bring to communities locally and nationally.”
However, there is strong resistance from the local population.
Those opposing the new site include six parish councils, according to the Telegraph, all of which criticise the plans as “inappropriate development” on green belt land.
At the heart of the green belt: The village of Ansty in Warwickshire (east of Birmingham) is at the centre of a planning dispute between residents and FTSE 100 company Frasers Group
Lee Hawkins, vice-chairman of Ansty Parish Council, told the Telegraph: “I don’t know of anyone I’ve spoken to who lives in any of the surrounding villages who is in favour of it. Everyone is vehemently against it.”
A representative for Brinklow Parish Council described the campus as “wholly unsuitable” and expressed fears it would “set a precedent” for more developers targeting Rugby’s green belt.
“In any case, almost all the products that it will stock and sell are manufactured abroad,” they added.
“Why should we support that? We need to support local industry and manufacturing.”
Other concerns included increased traffic in the area, increased pressure on local housing, loss of agricultural land, destruction of wildlife habitats, and noise and light pollution.
The town is close to central England and is close to the M6. Frasers bought the nearby Coventry Arena for £17m in 2022.
