Freight firm on the move

One of Southwell’s best known employers is preparing to leave the town after getting planning permission for a new site.

Haulage company W. A. Rainbow and Sons — founded in Southwell 90 years ago — has approval to move to premises off Brailwood Close, Bilsthorpe.

Its Burgage site, the town’s former prison, has been earmarked for housing.

A company director, Mr Andrew Rainbow, said they did not plan to move immediately, but hoped to do so in a few years when the economic climate had improved.

He said: “The Southwell site has been unsuitable for a number of years because it is not particularly sensibly located. I think the powers-that-be will be pleased to see us move to more suitable premises.”

The plans, approved by Newark and Sherwood District Council, include a warehouse with 4,769sq ft of floorspace to sort parcels and freight, and a workshop with 5,231sq ft of floorspace to service the vehicles.

Plans were approved originally in 2008, but the scheme was delayed after great crested newts, a protected species, were found in the area.

As a result of the recession, the plans were scaled down and resubmitted.

The company was founded by Mr Rainbow’s grandfather, Mr William Rainbow, in 1921 and was originally based in garages behind Landseer Road.

It moved to its current premises in 1958.

Mr Rainbow said he would be sad to leave the town but thought the new site was more suitable because it was not in a residential area.

The chairman of the town council’s planning committee, Mr Andy Gregory, said: “It is obviously beneficial to them and it is a move they have needed to do for some time.

“Hopefully it will be a benefit to everybody but it is a shame to see them go because they have been a big part of the town for many years.

“The town might benefit from having fewer HGVs going through, however.”

Rainbows’ Burgage site still contains part of the original jail, the governor’s house and a chapel.