December has been a significant month for First Chippenham. It is significant as it marks the submission of our planning application for a new The Range retail store and distribution centre to the north of the A350 in Chippenham. For us, it marks more than two years of searching, planning and refining our proposals.

Chippenham is proposed to be The Range’s new long-term home. It will be a base for its southern operations and is where the company wants to invest over the next 20 years to make its business stronger and more adaptable.

If the plans are approved, the economic benefits to Chippenham and Wiltshire will be considerable. The proposals will create approximately 1,000 new jobs, generate a £31 million per year uplift in the local Wiltshire economy and contribute to the council’s strategy of delivering significant job growth and helping to redress the existing levels of out-commuting. It will also offer contracts to local firms for specialist services such as catering, mechanical support and facilities management (among others) as well as providing a training academy for The Range staff.

The Range wants to ensure these benefits are captured locally and this is part of the reason for choosing the development site. It is close enough to Chippenham to enable people to get to work quickly and easily whilst providing The Range’s delivery vehicles with easy access onto the A350 and the M4. We predict that 95 per cent of The Range’s vehicles will travel this way, away from Chippenham.

Modern distribution centres are sizeable buildings as it is what retailers currently require. We have done all we can to minimise the visual impact of the proposals. Since announcing our plans in June we have updated the design, changed the colour of the building, and amended the site layout so that the building is set as far back from the A350 as possible. We have also improved the design of The Range store, which faces onto the A350, and increased the amount of landscaping in our plans. If approved, the proposals have the capacity to inject millions of pounds into Chippenham’s economy every year. The scheme will also create hundreds of employment opportunities. As a result we have the potential to become a key part of Chippenham’s business community.

Please come to our submission exhibition on January 9 and 10 at Chippenham Town Hall to see our final plans and ask any questions.

Oliver Bertram, First Chippenham.