BRITAIN’S biggest building, a giant supermarket warehouse acting as a larder for much of southern England, is to be erected next to a Hampshire nature reserve.

The “mega-shed” is being planned by a supermarket chain, reported to be Tesco, to serve as its main depot to supply groceries to stores from Dover to Penzance.

The site at Pyestock, a former Ministry of Defence jet engine testing centre between Fleet and Farnborough, was sold last year for more than £50m to Prudential, the insurer, which is a partner in the development.

The planned shed, part of a much bigger development dubbed Hartland Park, will have a floorspace of 1.25m sq ft, equivalent to 17 full-size football pitches and bigger than the Millennium Dome.

It is, however, only the largest of dozens of similar buildings appearing across the country after John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, changed planning guidelines to favour such developments. He believes they will boost regional economic growth.

Many disagree. Hundreds of local voters have written to Hart district council to object to the planning application submitted by Prudential and Astral Developments, its partner.

Shan Healey, a spokeswoman for a local action group, Stop Pyestock Blot — Act Today, said the volume of traffic the scheme would generate was sufficient reason to block it.

The protesters also warn the development will mean felling hundreds of trees, destroying wildlife habitats and threatening the adjacent 141-acre Fleet pond nature reserve, a site of special scientific interest.

Prescott’s latest policy planning guidance note on transport suggests local authorities should avoid imposing restrictions on new warehouses, such as banning night-time lorry movements, because of the effect on the “wider economy”.

A spokesman for Tesco would not comment on its involvement with the Pyecroft warehouse. Prudential and Astral Developments said: “Business requires large units built on flat sites. There is a lack of suitable sites in the southeast, where demand is greatest.”

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