EXCLUSIVE Attack of the megasheds: The homeowner who has lost more than half a million pounds as 1.17million sq ft warehouse for The Range ruins views of rolling farmland

Daily Mail​

6 days ago

A horrified grandfather says £600,000 has been wiped off the value of his home and rental properties after a massive warehouse used by The Range sprung up beside his land.
Ken Lungley enjoyed spectacular views over Suffolk countryside until work began on the 1.17 million sq ft 'megashed'.
Now the sprawling building used by the variety store and garden centre retailer 'blights' the area and has caused the value of his retirement investment to collapse from £1.5 million to just £900,000.
In a further blow, the local council has approved an even bigger warehouse beside the commercial site, which Mr Lungley, 79, fears will further slash what his nest egg is worth.
He is powerless to do anything about it and told the Mail: 'You can't stand in the way of progress - but not in my back garden.
'It was all nature. Now all I can see is the warehouse roof and a big sign that says 'The Range'.'
Divorcee Mr Lungley bought an acre of land with five barns in Creeting St Peter, near Stowmarket, in 1990 for £65,000 and converted four of them.
One became his four-bedroom home and another is now a four-bedroom holiday home which he rents out for £1,500 for three nights or £2,000 for a week.
The third structure houses a 28x14ft swimming pool that can be rented for £40 an hour and there is also a long-term rental property which brings in £1,150 per month.
The businessman, a father-of-two who ran a scaffolding company in London for 50 years, has sunk around £500,000 into the site over the years and intends passing it on to his family one day.
But the idyllic setting was changed forever when approval was given for the warehouse after a local farmer applied for permission.
'I have it valued every now and then because estate agents are always offering free valuations,' said Mr Lungley, who lives in his home with his two dogs.
'It went up and up and up [in value] and three years ago I had it valued and it was worth £1.5 million. Then when this building went up, I had it valued again and it was £1.2 million.
'Now it's gone down again. According to Zoopla it's worth £900,000. If they had built houses on it, it wouldn't be so bad on the eye.
'There are six or seven families in a little group here who complained about it [when the planning request was submitted] but that didn't get anywhere.
'I suppose it's a god send that it's only one warehouse, not ten or 11 little ones which we could have got.
The Range's warehouse is part of Gateway 14 Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mid Suffolk Council, which has permission for 2.36 million square-foot of floor space and is part of Freeport East, a set of low-tax, low-regulation zones given the green light in December 2021.
'But another one is going to go up on the other side of a road that runs through the site and it's even bigger. That's lots of warehouses and I think it's 156 acres.
'It used to be farmland. Certainly it's sad to have lost that view because there were deer and hares and everything over there.
'I could look into legal action about blight but I can't get the money.'
Noise pollution hadn't been an issue, he added, but lights were left on all night at the car park until he spoke to the council and enforcement officers were called in.
The land the warehouse is situated on was sold by a farmer and planning permission for a business park was granted in August 2021.
It is run by Gateway 14 Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mid Suffolk Council has permission for 2.36 million square-foot of floor space and is part of Freeport East, a set of low-tax, low-regulation zones given the green light in December 2021.
The Range secured its plot in June 2022 and planning approval for the warehouse was granted in October that year - despite objectors including Creeting St Peter Parish Council.
Parish councillors cited problems including traffic generation, lack of landscape details, noise problems and uncertainty over whether enough parking spaces are included in the plans.
The Range moved into the 'mega-shed' in November 2023.
In May last year, Mid Suffolk Council granted permission to add to the plot, which is the largest business park in East Anglia.
The council and The Range were contacted for comments.
In April, neighbours living in the 'warehouse capital of Britain' spoke of the nightmare of being forced to live in the shadow of massive buildings that they said is like being next to the 'Berlin Wall'.
Northamptonshire has more storage and distribution centres than anywhere else in the country, with massive developments 'constantly' popping up.
But homeowners in Corby had enough and said their lives have been ruined by the huge warehouses towering over their homes.
They compared it to living next to the 'Berlin Wall' or in a 'prison camp'.
Recruitment firm boss Georgie Wallis, 30, said: 'They have hit us with these legal bills despite a judge admitting the council were in the wrong'
The town is home to dozens of industrial units including Europa's HQ and Nike's logistics campus, which is currently under construction.
One 60ft high 'monster' warehouse - called Rockingham 161 - was even built without locals' knowledge due to a council error.
The site of the former Weetabix plant still lies empty a year after being constructed, but looms over nearby homes in Hooke Close.
Embarrassingly, council workers mistakenly consulted people living on the wrong road to ask for their thoughts on the enormous development.
It was only when residents contacted the council to ask why they hadn't been informed that they found officials had mixed up the street with one half a mile away.
Locals who opposed to the warehouse were recently refused a judicial review and even slapped with a £5,000 legal bill.
This was despite a judge saying the council had 'fallen well below the standard expected' by failing to consult residents properly.
Recruitment firm boss Georgie Wallis, 30, said: 'They have hit us with these legal bills despite a judge admitting the council were in the wrong.
Mr Cruz said: 'We feel like we're living by the Berlin Wall, that's the most accurate way to describe it, and I don't even think the Berlin Wall was as big as this'
'It was because we didn't submit it on time, so on a technicality, really, I'm just exhausted with it all, but we will keep fighting.
'We have got to pay up this money while this giant eyesore lies empty - who knows what life will be like once people are in there with the pollution and traffic.
'I look out of my garden and all I can see is this big, grey and black daunting building which looms over our home.'
Portuguese-born Jose Cruz, 65, and his wife Olga, 60, moved into their two-bedroom semi-detached home in 2011.
He says they live constantly in a shadow and that the building blocks about 80 per cent of the sunlight into his home.
Mr Cruz went on: said: 'Nobody wanted the warehouse here and nobody even consulted us about it, it has been a crazy situation from day one.
'We feel like we're living by the Berlin Wall, that's the most accurate way to describe it, and I don't even think the Berlin Wall was as big as this.
'I have lived in four different countries and I have never known anything like this.
He says they live constantly in a shadow and that the building blocks about 80 per cent of the sunlight into his home
'The UK is not short of space - why erect these warehouses in between people's homes? It's just unbelievable.
'I'm afraid to have an estate agent round as who knows how much money has been wiped off the value of our property.
'It's terrible and we're very angry we weren't consulted about it.
'I just don't understand this country. The people here are the most wonderful but the one per cent making these decisions, I just do not get.'
Council officers mistakenly consulted people living on Hubble Road instead of Hooke Close to ask their opinions about the massive 160,800 sq ft development.
Another resident, who did not want to be named, said it felt like they were now living by 'a prison camp'.
She added: 'It has just been horrifying, we have been left with this monstrous eyesore towering above us.
'They have planted some little trees but that's not going to make a difference. We feel like we're living by a prison camp.
'They are constantly being built in other areas too - the town is becoming a gigantic industrial estate. It's a daily nightmare.'
Near to Magma Park where Europa's HQ and the Nike campus will be built, residents were also critical of the developments.
One local, who did not want to be named, added: 'They are throwing up all these giant warehouses and loads of them just lie empty.
'You hear about redundancies being made instead, so who is going to fill them all?
'They are in the wrong place and I'm not sure they are even needed - it feels like there's more warehouses than residential areas.'
Clare Bottle, chief executive of the UK Warehousing Association, said they were an 'important engine of growth in our supply chains.'
She said: 'As supply chains become longer and face uncertainty due to world events, consumers and businesses alike are increasingly relying on warehouses to store and distribute the goods we need.
'Furthermore, activities which used to take place on the high street and in factories are being shifted into warehouse facilities, along with the processing of returns, recycling and even product repairs, which all underpin the circular economy.'
A spokesperson for North Northamptonshire Council said at the time: 'Following the court's decision to refuse the claimant's application for judicial review on this case, the claimant then appealed the decision, and this appeal was then refused by the court in late March 2024.
'Due to the ongoing legal conversations around costs, it's not possible to comment any further at this stage.'
However, for those thinking this can't get any worse, a real estate expert warned the UK will need around 2,000 football pitches worth of extra warehouse space in order to meet house-building targets and the growth of online retail, the BBC reports.
Will Laing, a research analyst at Newmark Group, said: 'Given the government's target to build 1.5 million homes in the next five years, coupled with the continued shift to online retail, we estimate 150,000,000 sq ft (13,935,456 sq m) of extra warehousing will be needed over the next 10 years.'