Fast-growing Top 50 Indie Applegreen UK has won planning permission for its biggest development on the UK mainland. Its application for a 5,000sq ft trunk road service area (TRSA) on the A14 at Spaldwick, Cambridgeshire, was approved by nine votes to four by Huntingtonshire District Council’s planning committee.

Applegreen’s parent company has its HQ in the Irish Republic, but has been growing rapidly in the UK where it has 75 sites, including motorway service stations in Northern Ireland. Applegreen UK managing director (until December 1), Michael O’Loughlin, described the move as a turning point in its development on the UK mainland: "This is our first TRSA, but Applegreen wants to build more motorway service areas and TRSAs in this country," he said. Applegreen currently has an Esso filling station on the site, but the shop was burned down during a robbery in August 2015.