Airfield Development Deferred
Stafford Borough Council last night deferred the decision to approve resubmitted plans by Driveme.net to transform an old airfield in Staffordshire into a state-of-the-art driving experience centre. The Development Control Committee voted to visit the Seighford site of the application whilst a driving day is underway before making their decision.
If the multi-million pound plans which are recommended for approval by planning officers go ahead, 120 jobs will be created. Driveme is committed to the Seighford site, which will invest £8.7 million into the Staffordshire economy, as well as securing 35 existing and 85 new jobs.
After listening to residents, the revised plans show a 40 per cent reduction of the main hub building, which is no longer intended for multi-purpose use, only for use with driving experience guests. The plans also take away the workshop building and any storage provision for local light aircraft users.
As a result, the new plans also show improved landscaping and increased environmental considerations on the site, with reduced traffic and noise.
Allan Davies, Director of Driveme.net Ltd. said:
“We are disappointed that Members decided to defer making a decision pending a site visit.
We look forward to the opportunity of welcoming Members to viewing the site in its context when it is in operational mode and suggest that they use their visit to view from both afar and up close, noting of course that what they shall be viewing are the present not planned operations.
Just as the Council no doubt wishes to ensure certainty over the future of the local economy, particularly in these challenging times, we are keen to secure the future of the 57 employees who currently depend upon Seighford; including 35 locally and 22 in North Wales, as well as the additional 85 new skilled jobs. With permission we can commence and deliver real jobs by the start of 2009 in the construction of the facility.
We are excited about the project and cannot reiterate enough our commitment to working with the local community in delivering a successful and enterprising set of social, economic and environmental benefits."
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Driveme"s current operations at Seighford are from a collection of portable buildings, in a corner of the airfield. Directors at Driveme are keen to make a positive difference to the old airfield. Their plans include a low carbon, eco-friendly and state of the art hospitality hub, multi-use vehicle tracks, extensive natural sound deadening acoustic bunds, enhanced nature conservation and wildlife habitats & extensive landscaping proposals and more accessible and user friendly rights of way.
Previous plans were for a central hub building able to be used by the local community as a conference and meeting facility, with schools and college involvement too. This will now be limited to schools and college use and education.
(Driveme has already helped the Young Engineers Club at Cooper Perry Primary School in Seighford, Staffordshire test its electrically powered go-karts at the Driveme.net track. Driveme is also holding a series of educational workshops for schools in the area and working in conjunction with Cooper Perry Primary School to establish an educational consultancy regarding engineering construction and safety.)
The location and site will demonstrate a world-class example of building design and low carbon use technology. Eco-award-winning architects White Design are working on the project.
driveme.net Ltd. provides professionally guided driving experiences for the general public and corporate driving days for team building and client invitation. It also instructs less able and partially sighted visitors and young drivers 12 to 16 years old in a safe and fully supervised driving environment.
The driveme.net range of experiences include driving under supervision or being driven in road legal vehicles that include saloon cars, higher powered performance cars and 4×4″s.
Seighford airfield will continue in use as an emergency landing strip and as a base for gliders and light aircraft (but without Driveme involvement here). It has been used for over 10 years for motor vehicle testing, experience and demonstration purposes.
Press Contacts: Marketing Projects T: 01244 330000
W: www.marketingprojects.co.uk
W: http://www.driveme.net/driving-experiences-at-stafford.html
Phil Brotherhood Jane Harrad-Roberts
E: phil@marketingprojects.co.uk jane@marketingprojects.co.uk
M: 07884 493370 M: 07785 395705
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