Plans to vary conditions for motorway service station proposals passed

Extra MSA’s proposals to vary two conditions, as part of an environmental assessment application, came before the development management committee at its meeting on Thursday.

The principle of the development of a motorway service area to the north of junction 11 at Birchwood has previously been accepted by the granting of outline planning permission at appeal.

The Section 73 application for the variation of conditions relating to the proposed site came before the committee on Thursday, with members approving it.

The original application gained outline planning permission with all matters reserved for approval apart from means of access. The detailed appearance, landscaping, layout and scale of the proposal would form a subsequent reserved matters application for approval at a later stage.

According to the report to the committee, condition five involves amendments to the four parameter plans included on the original permission. These parameter plans set out ‘defined zones for specific elements of the proposal and future reserved matters applications are required to be made taking into account these zones’.

Meanwhile, condition 26 would be amended to ‘allow the applicant the option to pursue’ a district level licensing agreement with Natural England, should great crested newts be found on the site.

The existing outline permission allows a facilities building, a 80 to 100-bed hotel, a fuel filling station for cars and HGV’s with associated retail outlet, and on-site parking for cars, HGV’s coaches, caravans, motorbikes and cycles – as well as external amenity space for visitors to the building.

The application sought to retain all of the facilities and parking provision but relocates the fuel filling zones to a different location on the site.

Committee member Cllr Judith Wheeler said: “The original application, the approved application, is for an 80 to 100 bed hotel, there’s been a sizeable reduction in the facilities footprint, which includes the hotel, is it a material planning consideration the size of the hotel, or is it all lumped together as under the facilities umbrella?”

Committee chair Cllr Steve Parish said: “The original outline was for an 80 to 100 bed hotel, so as long as it’s not bigger than that, I’m not sure there’s an issue.”