Petrol station and drive-through plans for Kingsway submitted

Photo: Google, DigitalGlobe

The land, seen from the Hornet, with Wallis Avenue houses and JD Sports in the background

A planning application for a Euro Garage petrol station and two drive-throughs in the Kingsway area of Rochdale has been submitted.

The plans have been submitted by Knutsford-based company Walsingham Planning on behalf of EG Group Limited for an 11.3HA plot of land between the Hornet pub and Michael Faraday Avenue, which currently lies vacant.

Access to the site would be provided via a priority-controlled junction off Wallis Avenue with internal access roads with a two-way priority-controlled junction.

Also included in the proposals are plans for 12 EV car charging bays, four jet wash bays, a roll over car wash, plus associated car parking and landscaping.

The first drive-through would have 34 inside seats and 28 outside, with a small food preparation area, whilst the second will have 20 seats inside and 16 outside.

The applicant says the proposed development has 44 parking spaces (included four disabled bays) for the drive-throughs whilst the petrol station will have 14 parking spaces, including two disabled bays and 12 EV car charging spaces. A final 10 spaces will be staff bays or used for overflow.

With the close proximity of nearby homes, the application outlines plans for acoustic fencing to reflect sound as well as 110 trees. Over 150m of hedgerow would be retained towards 431m of native hedgerow.

The applicant says the site has been identified as “meeting an essential roadside service requirement from the surrounding road network” and would serve as “a strategic gap” on the motorway route.

The closest motorway services from the nearby Junction 21 are at Birch and Hartshead Moor whilst the “immediate area is not well-served by petrol filling stations.”

A previous pre-application for a similar proposed facility said the development would “go some way to meeting an otherwise unmet, or inadequately met, need for a petrol station and motorist facilities in the area” and would “likely attract passing trade rather than new trips to the highway network.”

To date, 60 objections have been received and four supporting comments.

Comments in favour of, or against, the application can be made on the Rochdale Borough Council planning portal.