At the date of instruction, the site extended to 3.4 acres (1.39ha), all located within the Green Belt, as defined within the West Lancashire Local Plan 2012-2027 (2013). The development is commercial and is inappropriate development in the Green Belt.

Len Wright Salads is one of the three main salads companies in the UK and plays a significant part in the supply chain throughout the economy, and the local agricultural sector, employing 2,300 people (a third of manufacturing jobs). Len Wright Salads purchase approximately 13 million tonnes (£13.1 million) of produce from farmers in 4 miles of their facility and it is estimated that Len Wrights supports 190 full time jobs in the local agricultural sector.

Acland Bracewell’s instructions were to provide strategic advice, full project management from conception to design finalisation and to submit a full planning application on the consolidation and expansion of the existing mixed use agricultural, processing and packaging business of Len Wrights Salads, through the development of a 4,260m²  purpose-built pack house/processing facility, additional 92 car parking spaces and sustainable drainage system, increasing the site to circa 15 acres (6ha).

Significant technical and master-planning work was undertaken by a range of technical consultants to ensure that the development is sustainable and deliverable, at the planning application stage, and to reduce pre-commencement conditions, in order to meet client time frames for delivery of the project.

Acland Bracewell provided tailored advice on community engagement and utilising their knowledge on this specialist agricultural food-production sector, successfully argued very special circumstances applied to this development and achieved a full planning permission for one of the largest commercial expansions into the Green Belt, in West Lancashire.