Fashion giant Boohoo's new warehouse plans set for green light

The online fashion firm, recently forced into defending its working conditions following a Dispatches investigation on Channel Four, built a massive warehouse and distribution centre on the Heasandford Industrial Estate in 2014.

An application for a second, even bigger distribution centre on the adjacent site goes before Burnley Council's Development Control Committee on Thursday evening.

The new 163,000 sq. ft facility will stand almost 75ft tall and would operate 24 hours a day, seven day a week.

Boohoo has said the development will secure both existing jobs and further increase the number of staff by somewhere in the region of 500.

The original warehouse was branded an "eyesore" by nearby homeowners who complained that its sheer size even blocked mobile phone reception.

While this application has been recommended for approval, a number of objections have been received.

Five of these have come from local residents and businesses who feel serious consideration should be given to the size and height of the proposed structure.

Lancashire Wildlife Trust has objected to the proposals stating that the site was identified as being of "High Wildlife Value" in the Burnley Wildlife

Survey 1990 and was one of only a few such sites that were fully urban in nature.

Burnley Civic Trust has also voiced its concerns.

"The building already erected is far larger than ever envisaged and we understand that it casts a shadow over the gardens of nearby residential properties," the Trust said in the planning report. "We realise that this is an industrial park and the number of jobs which will be created are important but we would ask the council to take steps to tone down the adverse effects which will be apparent when the building is completed."