The development of a £40m service station on the M5 motorway at Brookthorpe in Gloucestershire has moved a step closer following approval of revised plans for the scheme.

Stroud District Council’s Development Control Committee gave the go ahead for the alterations to the original proposals, including modifications to the design of the two filling stations in the scheme.

Planning permission for the service station, which will be situated between junctions 11a and 12 of the M5, was originally granted back in August 2010.

However, the planning report presented to the committee said alterations to the existing plans were needed to ensure they complied with health and safety legislation.

The report said the new petrol station designs put forward by Westmorland Ltd and Gloucestershire Gateway Trust did not materially depart from the original concept of the scheme.

Westmorland, which runs the Tebay service station on the M6 in Cumbria, is the only family owned company to operate a UK motorway service station.

A spokeswoman said the company was planning to start construction on the site in February with completion expected by Easter 2014.

According to Wesrmorland  the scheme will create 300 jobs in the area, but it has faced local objections and had to overcome a judicial review, which it says delayed the scheme by 18 months.