EG Jarrow

Across the UK, EG Group continues to get mixed results for its planning applications.

An application to extend the ‘kiosk building’ at St Matthews Service Station in Jarrow has just been granted by South Tyneside Council while an application to build on a green field site in Suffolk has been refused.

In Jarrow, EG Group said the extension was critical to the future sustainability of the site.

The site currently comprises a four-pump Esso petrol forecourt and a single-storey Spar store with a small Subway and Greggs concession. The plans were to extend the store by 116sq m to take it to 472sq m, with all materials used matching the existing building.

The application said the current shop provides a limited range of basic top-up goods aimed at the motorist including snacks, hot and cold drinks, confectionery, a limited range of groceries, newspapers/magazines, cigarettes and toiletries. It said this ancillary range of goods and services, that augment the sale of fuel, is critical in order to ensure that the site, as a whole, can be profitable. “This small extension proposed on the application site will ensure that the PFS, as a whole, continues to exist as a viable business,” it went on.

The council’s decision report said that the proposed enlarged retail outlet would improve the local convenience offer for the area. It stated: “The proposal is therefore inextricably linked to the existing kiosk building and there is therefore no justification for exploring the possibility of siting the extension in any other location.”

Further south, EG Group’s plans to build a new petrol station on a greenfield site off the A14 at Elmswell in Suffolk have been refused. Concerns included access to the site and the effect on traffic in the area. The Mid Suffolk Development Control Committee decided to refuse the proposals subject to more information about highways and heritage issues.