International food tech firm given permission to expand on greenbelt land with promise of new jobs

Councillors voted to go against officers’ recommendations to reject the proposal after hearing how the development in Pontefract will create new jobs.

Wakefield Council’s planning and highways committee granted permission for Ulrick and Short to expand its site off Pontefract Road, Thorpe Audlin.

The company applied for full planning permission for a two-storey extension to its existing building.

Officers said the scheme was “inappropriate” and there were no “very special circumstances” to allow it to be approved.

A report stated: “The proposed development, by virtue of it’s design, scale and location, would be detrimental to the openness of, and result in encroachment into the greenbelt.”

But committee members said they felt there were exceptional circumstances to allow it to be granted.

Arian Short, chief executive of the Ulrick and Short, told the committee that the firm had been founded in Pontefract 20 years ago.

Mr Short said the business started with a small number of employees but now also has premises on Holland and France.

He added that it is a multi-million pound company employing 50 people in the UK.

He said: “Many of our UK staff are local to Pontefract and travel short distances to the office.”

Mr Short said granting the application would allow for new labs and equipment to be put in place to turn the site into a research and development centre.

He added: “Our primary goal is that we add to the facilities that we have got to make it a complete technology centre for the UK.”

Mr Short said the expansion would mean the company could create between six and eight new jobs for local people.

He said the company had struggled to find alternative premises nearby for the expansion and that refusal of the application could mean having to relocate, with the possibility of the loss of local jobs.

Committee member, Coun Pete Girt said: “I find it difficult to get it straight in my head as to why we have refused things like this because it is greenbelt, when it is going to benefit the local community with jobs.

“We are desperately short of jobs in this area, yet we will quite happily give permission to housing developers to build on greenbelt and make money.

“I can’t weight this up. I can’t come to terms with why there is recommendation to refuse this.

“We are either in favour of protecting greenbelt or we are not. I can’t find a reason to oppose this.”

The committee voted to grant approval on the basis that the development provided job opportunities and that the impact on greenbelt was minimal.