William Grant and Sons Speyside warehouse plan at Portgordon set for meeting
The whisky firm behind Glenfiddich hopes to double the size of a Moray warehouse complex, under plans to be decided at a meeting next week.
Council officers have recommended granting planning permission for the project at Portgordon, described as a “significant investment in the whisky industry”.
William Grant and Sons, which also operates Balvenie Distillery, Kininvie Distillery and produces Grant’s, Drambuie and Hendrick’s Gin, plans to build six warehouses on a site near Crisp Maltings.
The new complex is set to have a footprint of 22 hectares, with each warehouse larger than a football pitch.
Documents describe the new complex as an extension to another William Grant and Sons facility, currently under-construction, which is the same size.
Plans are set to be decided at next Tuesday’s meeting of the Planning and Regulatory Services Committee.
Officers, within meeting papers, said William Grant and Sons want to build the warehouses due to “a shortage of cask storage within Moray”.
Without further warehouses being built, the statement adds, “production and expansion of the industry would be impacted”.
Documents also state that the project could create more jobs, apprenticeships, education and training.
One objection to the project was received from a local resident, centring on traffic and road safety concerns.
The resident argued that the “amount of HGV traffic is currently unbearable,” documents show.
Claiming that lorries had caused “numerous potholes”, the resident also described the roads infrastructure as “inadequate”.
The complaint also said the development may “impact enjoyment whilst dog walking on a nearby track” at the site.
However, the planning officer response argued it was an “accessible extension to an existing rural business operation and “no significant impacts on recreational activity” was identified.
Meeting papers state that the steel-framed warehouses will be 13 metres tall, with “olive-green” cladding on the walls and a dark green roof.
