They used to enjoy views towards the Severn Estuary and the Prince of Wales bridge beyond.
Now villagers look out on a new ‘stadium-size’ warehouse which has sprung up without their consultation – using a controversial planning consent dating back almost 70 years which was designed to encourage post-war industrial development.
The residents in Pilning, Gloucestershire, say the floodlit ‘mega shed’ has devalued their homes and is blighting their lives – depriving them of light in the day while the site, which is still under construction, is illuminated at night.
The 65ft (20m) high ‘industrial distribution hub’ looks like a ‘large prison’ and is the latest in a succession of massive warehouse projects which now loom over housing estates or countryside properties.
The 1957 scheme was part of a post war building initiative and allows developers to go ahead with an application in the area without fully consulting residents.
It was originally designed 70 years ago to boost future expansion of chemical, storage, and distribution industries.
The ‘consent’ also means councillors are prohibited from taking into account many issues raised by residents.
Locals say estate agents have told them the new warehouse has wiped up to ten per cent off the value of their homes.
One woman told how she came back from holiday to find the frame of the giant warehouse had been erected behind her home.
Residents used to enjoy watching the wildlife or walking their dogs on the field that has now been built on
Locals say estate agents have told them the new warehouse has wiped up to ten per cent off the value of their homes
Simone Harrison, 55, and husband Ricky Harrison, 51, say for 13 years all they could see there was wildlife and animals like deer and rabbits.
But now when they open their curtains all they can see is a massive warehouse.
Mrs Harrison said: ‘It is an effing monstrosity. It has certainly changed the way I feel about the area.
‘When they started the piling work the whole house was shaking and a lot of dust. They told they were going to clean our house and cars and they didn’t.’
Mr Harrison added: ‘I understand we need progression but there has been little thought about the houses and who lives here.
‘We used to walk our dog on the field where this has been built. We’d look out on the land from our bedroom window and see deer, rabbits and foxes, the M4 bridge and even the Welsh hills on the other side of the estuary.
‘This is not planned by someone who lives here. They just plonked it here.’
Sue Jones, 67, a retired army veteran went on holiday and said that when she came back after two weeks the ‘monster-shed’ had appeared.
Christine Selby, 68, pictured with husband Paul, 71, said the warehouse had ‘destroyed the area’
Colin Cheetham now looks out on the giant structure from his upstairs window
‘I was disgusted when I saw it,’ she said. ‘They managed to get it so close to the houses.
‘And what about the flood plan? Where is all the water going to go?
‘When it is completed it is going to be like living next to a large prison.
‘We didn’t get any correspondence from the developers until last week we got a newsletter number six out of six. Where did the other correspondence go?’
The ‘1957/58 Severnside Consent’ refers to significant, large-area planning permissions granted to chemical industries for industrial development in the Severnside area of South Gloucestershire, UK.
The permissions were granted to facilitate future industrial expansion over a large area of land – approximately 650 to over 1000 hectares.
They are ‘extant’ or still valid today, meaning that much of the land benefits from this existing planning permission for uses such as industrial, storage, and distribution.
It allows development to proceed without necessarily requiring the same level of investment in strategic flood or ecological mitigation that new permissions would need.
A South Gloucestershire Council development management committee report notes that ‘the 1957 consent is a very ‘open’ permission, and very different to an outline consent granted in the modern planning regime.’
It stated that legal advice was sought and ‘Counsel’s opinion confirmed that limited control can be exercised over this development’.
The report added: ‘The grant of outline permission constitutes a commitment by the planning authority to the principle of development, preventing them from refusing approval of reserved matters on grounds relating to the principle of development.’
Mrs Jones added: ‘They go on about this creating jobs.
Villagers in Pilning, Gloucestershire, say the 65ft building deprives them of sunlight
Sue Jones went on holiday and when came back after two weeks the ‘monster-shed’ had appeared
‘But this will create a few minimum wage jobs and the rest is automated. It is a monster. It looks like a giant green house.’
Christine Selby, 68, who lives with husband Paul, 71, said: ‘I feel annoyed and powerless to say the least. It has destroyed the area.
Collin Cheetham, 75 and his wife Marilyn, 73, can see the warehouse from their first floor.
Mr Cheetham said: ‘We have got to accept progress. What we are opposed to is the size of it. It all happened in ten weeks.
‘We’re going to have to put up with it for the rest of our lives. You can see it from miles around.’
Cllr Simon Johnson told ITV Westcountry the issue ‘goes back to a historic planning consent in the 1950s.’
He added: ‘Probably for the best will in the world after the Second World War a rebuilding mission was on track there (in the Severnside area).
Another development at Creeting St Peter, Suffolk, has ‘blighted’ Ken Lungley’s former view over farmland
‘But what we’re now seeing here in 2025, in what’s being built on these blanket planning consents, is no longer fit for purpose.
‘This should not have been built at this height and not with this much impact for local residents.’
Claire Young MP, Liberal Democrat for Pilning and Yate, has raised the issue in the Commons.
She said: ‘Historic consents need to be looked at and we need legislation to introduce modern conditions on them, so we don’t have this situation where people’s very reasonable concerns can’t be taken into consideration.
‘In the early 90s the government regularized this for quarries but they didn’t fix ones like this (Severnside) consent.
‘Now I’m asking them to finish the job and that’s why I’m calling for a debate to directly ask ministers.’
A Government spokesperson said: ‘We’re taking decisive action to update the planning system and get Britain building, while ensuring communities are engaged with developers’ plans.
‘Councils are ultimately responsible for reviewing old permissions if the development is no longer suitable and deciding whether action is necessary.’
In a statement, South Gloucestershire Council explained they had limited powers to halt the project.
A spokesperson for South Gloucestershire Council, said: ‘Much of the new development at Severnside is governed by a planning permission granted in 1957, pre-dating both South Gloucestershire Council and probably the arrival of many local residents in Easter Compton.
‘This permission gives wide ranging powers for development with limited remaining control for the council to exercise.’
The building is expected to be finished in April.
In March, the Daily Mail told how a building the size of six football pitches was constructed close to residents’ gardens at Nacton, near Ipswich in Suffolk.
As in Pilning, the site, a freight forwarding depot to be used during construction of the new Sizewell C nuclear power plant, lies on the other side of a railway line to the houses.
At Creeting St Peter, also in Suffolk, a giant warehouse used by home and garden retailer The Range now looms over countryside homes, while warehouses have also been built beside properties in Corby, Northamptonshire and Tyldesley, Greater Manchester.