Top 50 Indie MFG has been granted permission for a knockdown rebuild of its Prizet North Service Station at Helsington in Kendal.
Applying to Westmorland and Furness Council, the company said it wanted the site to offer “all of the latest facilities expected by motorists and bring the facility up to modern day standards”.
Currently, the site has a small shop with forecourt canopy and a workshop to the rear. It is surrounded by open countryside to the north, west and south with the A591 forming the eastern boundary.
MFG will demolish the existing shop and storage building and replace it with one shop, measuring 300sq m, which is the footprint of the current shop and storage facility.
The shop will be single storey with a modern, glazed frontage. As well as providing a retail sales area and food-to-go facility and prep area, it will house an accessible WC and an ATM plus a back-of-house area for stock and staff facilities.
MFG said the shop would use lightweight materials to create a “clean and crisp” appearance. Extensive use of glazing will create visual interest for people outside and also allow staff to have a view of the forecourt for safety and security purposes.
There will be a new bin store to the side of the sales building - accessed from the back-of-house area.
Eight car parking spaces will be sited to the front and side of the shop. One single DDA-accessible parking space will be conveniently located by the store entrance.
A new forecourt canopy is proposed with four new pump islands underneath in a ‘startergate’ arrangement. MFG said the ‘startergate’ configuration is acknowledged to be the most efficient forecourt arrangement – allowing increased vehicle flow and improving safety as all pumps can be viewed by staff in the shop at all times. Two high speed HGV pumps are also proposed.
New double-skin underground tanks will be installed on site.
A new EV charging hub will comprise six bays each with a 150kW high speed charger. A new air/water machine and vac machine will be installed adjacent to the new EV bays.
There will also be a new jet wash bay with 2.5m high glazed screens.
