Gloucestershire College in bid to turn industrial unit into vehicle workshop training site

By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter

Gloucestershire College wants to use an industrial unit for a motor vehicle workshop training in Gloucester.

The college has submitted plans to Gloucester City Council to change the use of the unit E2 at 125 Business Park near their main site in Llanthony Road.

Gloucestershire College is the largest further education college in the county and has its three main campuses in Cheltenham, Gloucester and the Forest of Dean.

The college delivers A Levels and GCSEs, vocational qualifications, work-based learning, basic skills courses, higher education, short courses for business, and part-time day and evening courses.

The Gloucester campus, opened in 2007, and is a state-of-the-art building located at Llanthony Road.

They own the nearby 125 Business Park and use some of the units for its vocational training courses.

However, most of the units are tenanted and occupied by employment use. Their latest planning application seeks permission to change the use of the industrial unit E2 to a training/education use.

The use would typically entail vocational training activities and courses and would have up to 20 students at any one time along with up to three members of staff.

They say in their planning application that most activity and training would take place between 8am and 6pm on weekdays but with some occasional evening courses running until 9pm.

They say the specific use in this academic year relates to motor vehicle training, although this may change in the future to other vocational training uses nearing ‘workshop’ type training

environments, such as plumbing or construction skills. No external changes to the building are proposed.

People have until July 10 to comment on the proposal which the City Council is expected to consider by August 13.

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