Issa sibling’s firm gets approval for six more storage units in Nelson

Blackburn-based EP Properties Ltd has secured planning approval for six more storage units in the industrial area of Nelson, Lancashire as the firm plans to capitalise on the e-commerce boom.

Pendle Council has granted permission for the conversion of the Ecroyd Suite in Lomeshaye Business Village into six individual storage units, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The approval for the potential job-creating project comes a month after the commercial property investment company, controlled by Zakir Issa, brother of EG Group bosses Mohsin and Zuber, won permission for three similar units on the premises of former Lomeshaye Village Nursery.

Urban Future Planning agents said in a statement that the site of the latest project, located within the Whitefield Conservation Area close to the local motorway junction was “highly commercial in nature”.

“The demand for offices has been on decline since Covid-19 restrictions have forced many people to work remotely to mitigate the spread of the virus. But even after re-opening, a majority of employees prefer flexible arrangements to continue,” the statement said.

A growing number of people had started working from home even before the pandemic, but the trend accelerated after the global health crisis set in.

Some five per cent of employees worked from home before the pandemic, but the proportion shot up to more than 45 per cent in April 2020, and it has remained high since then.

“The global pandemic has created an e-commerce boom with the industrial and logistics sector looking at how it can address the surge in demand for space. Following a lack of demand for office space at the application site, the applicant seeks to put the vacant space to effective use through a high-quality conversion to storage and distribution, creating six units to be made available for new or existing local businesses”, the statement said.