A busy storage depot crucial to Devonport naval base has been given permission to continue for another five years, but with reduced operating hours to protect the peace and quiet of residents living next to it.

Applicant Victoria Wharf Ltd had applied to Plymouth City Council for the permanent use of the compound at Keyham Road as the headquarters for the marine division of Denholm Industrial Services, but planners are holding off on granting that until the site’s appearance is improved.

They have also imposed new operating hours which don’t include Sundays and Bank Holidays and end at 7pm instead of 9pm during the week.

There were 18 objections to the application with concerns over noise, vibration, light and dust. 

Some residents referred to shot blasting that is taking place within an industrial unit which had been constructed on the site, which is in contravention of the original planning consent. 

Members of the council’s planning committee were told that enforcement action was being looked into to address these issues.

Planning officers said they saw merit in allowing the storage and distribution operation to continue to avoid adverse impacts on the dockyard and marine and defence sectors.

A five-year consent would allow the applicants to draw up a new application for permanent use proposing improvements to the appearance of the site, particularly the site’s street frontage.

Over the next decade, the government is investing £4.4 billion into the naval base and Babcock’s dockyard to support the next phase of the Royal Navy’s submarine works and the continuous at-sea deterrent. 

Denholm Industrial Services has been providing services to the dockyard since 2016.

But resident Mr McCarthy said the firm had operated outside the hours it gave on its website and claimed there was shot blasting daily for several hours plus “hammering and needlegunning”.

“If this site is allowed to continue in its current form and especially if Denholm is allowed to expand their operations and business hours to seven days a week, 12 hours a day, including bank holidays, it will have a massive effect on our community."

Planning consultant Elizabeth Bricknell, acting on behalf of the applicant and site operator, said it had a long history of industrial uses and 150 people were now employed there.

Permanent consent would provide a “multitude of planning benefits” for employees and the dockyard. The site’s close proximity to dockyard facilities meant prompt delivery of plant and material with minimal transport distances.

She said residents’ concerns over noise, vibration and dust had been heard and they were being addressed.

Councillors were told that in the nine years of operation, there had been no complaints to the planning department about the site.

Planning officer Daniel Thorning said there had been a lot of unauthorised work over the last 12/18 months, and it seemed like the objections were linked to operations that did not have planning permission.

He told councillors that approving this application would not imply support for unauthorised development as this was subject to a separate enforcement case.

Residents were being asked to record periods of noisy activity and see if it related to when certain operations were taking place at the site.