Office space demanded

The chairman of Bingham Business Club has criticised plans to build an employment park on the outskirts of the town.

Mr Adrian Malpass said Bingham is in desperate need of more office space not warehouses, which he fears will be built on the 37-hectare site between Chapel Way and the A46.

The Advertiser revealed last week that the landowners, the Crown Estate, is expected to submit an application in the next couple of months.

It was granted outline planning permission by Rushcliffe Borough Council in 2006.

Mr Malpass said: “We need offices now. We don’t need any more commercial units. If they put more warehouses that means more lorries coming through Bingham.”

He said many businesses could not expand and had to move elsewhere.

“You really think they would talk to people who represent local businesses. Why are they not asking businesses in Bingham what they want?” he said.

Although the plans will include office space as well as storage and distribution, Mr Malpass said he worried offices would only make up a small part of the development.

Mr Malpass said he was angry that a private meeting had been held between the Crown Estate and members of Bingham Town Council to discuss the plans, but not the Business Club.

“No one has been in contact with me, not one word. Bingham Town Council does not represent local businesses.

“In the Advertiser it says the meeting went well, which only proves that this town council have not got the faintest idea of what businesses need in this area.”

Bingham Business Club, which has around 60 members, was launched three years ago.

It allows members to support each other and share ideas.

It meets once a month at the Chesterfield Arms, Bingham.

Mr Neil Fraser of Fraser Price Consulting Ltd on Long Acre, Bingham, said it was almost impossible to find office space.

He said he had spent six months looking for a second office because he needed more space.

Mr Fraser said he had been forced to look outside of the town because he could not find anywhere suitable.

“It’s very hard to get hold of any office space in the area. I have looked all over the place.

“I have seen offices in Kneeton and East Bridgford but it’s getting there. We need somewhere central.

“I even looked in Nottingham but it was astronomically expensive. I found somewhere in Bingham but it was too small.”

Mr Fraser, who set up his business consultancy company five years ago, said he had recently found a suitable office on Church Street but that was only because he was told it had become available by somebody he knew who already uses the building.

He said: “Any introduction of commercial units is a benefit to the town but they should definitely go for a mix.

“It’s very much office based companies in Bingham.”