How new M5 service station in West Country would look
Motorists heading to and from the West Country are set to have a new M5 service station to take a welcome break at in years to come. Detailed blueprints for Somerset's latest motorway services have been unveiled, with a significant decision expected later this year. Sedgemoor District Council's development committee gave the green light to S.
Notaro Land Ltd. in August 2020 to establish a new motorway services area off Huntworth Lane, just east of M5's junction 24. However, the site has remained undeveloped over the years, with the necessary legal agreements only being finalised in September 2021. Shortly after, Welcome Break Services Ltd. took ownership of the site.
Following the approval of initial infrastructure plans in February 2023, the company has now submitted updated proposals for the new services. Somerset Council, which took over from the district council in April 2023, is set to deliver a final verdict later this year. The proposed location is on the eastern side of the Huntworth roundabout, near Bridgwater Lawn Tennis Club and less than a mile from the existing Moto services, which have been ranked among the UK's worst.
Another image showing how the services could look (Image: ADS Design)
Two access points will be provided for the new services - an entry-only slip road off the Huntworth roundabout, and a T-junction further along Huntworth Lane for both entry and exit.
The proposed amenities for the new services include a building, petrol station and a drive-thru coffee shop. The design illustrations hint that it could be a Starbucks outlet, adding to the existing ones at Hankridge Farm in Taunton (off junction 23) and Dunball in northern Bridgwater (off junction 23). The services will have 324 car parking bays (including 20 accessible bays and 54 electric vehicle charging bays), eight motorcycle parking bays, ten caravan parking bays (including two accessible bays), eight coach bays and 39 HGV parking spaces.
Plans for the new service station (Image: ADS Design)
Welcome Break currently operates several other services on the M5 - including the northbound Sedgemoor services (between junction 22 and 21), the Gordano services near Bristol (at junction 19) and the Michaelwood services in Gloucestershire (near junction 13).
The company - which is based in Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire - has not given an indication of how many new jobs will be created at the Bridgwater site. A spokesman said the plans would deliver "a single, multi-use building with diversity of space to appeal to the full spectrum of passing motorists within a logically laid out site." North Petherton Town Council (in whose parish the site lies) questioned whether developing this site would lead to HGVs using Moorland and Fordgate to reach southern Somerset, rather than using junction 25, taking the A358 towards Ilminster and picking up the A303.
Where the new services would be built (Image: Daniel Mumby)
A spokesman said: "The introduction and implementation of a weight restriction for vehicles using Marsh Lane and Huntworth Lane using normal traffic conditions should be considered.
"The potential for complaints about noise from nearby dwellings, especially with regard to the possibility of refrigerated lorries parking overnight, needs to be considered - and the appropriate mitigations should be part of any planning conditions."
Somerset Council is expected to make a final decision on these proposals by the late-summer.