Green light for The Hut Group’s car park proposals

Approval has been granted for The Hut Group’s proposals to establish a huge car park near Manchester Airport in a bid to accommodate its rapid growth plans.The e-commerce and distribution giant has 1,230 employees operating from its Voyager and 4M offices, and is in the process of acquiring additional space at the former as it looks to increase the size of its workforce towards the 1,500 mark by the end of Q1 2020.It also has consent for further expansion at Airport City.Much of THG’s staff car parking has been located on existing surface car parks adjoining the Voyager and 4M office buildings, south of the motorway spur. However, 350 spaces will be lost as a consequence of the commencement of development to bring forward the Airport City North Bridge and the approved hotel developments.An additional 150 spaces will be lost on a temporary basis to accommodate the actual assembly of the bridge which will take place on site.While the provision of new spaces to serve the commercial development will be covered through construction of an approved multi-storey car park, this is not yet on site.As such, permission was sought for a temporary 729-strong car park.Manchester City Council’s planning committee has now granted approval.