MFG has submitted a slimmed-down planning application to redevelop a Nottinghamshire forecourt after road-safety and flood-risk concerns saw the local authority refuse the firm permission to carry out a knock-down rebuild of the site’s shop last year.
The company had initially intended to demolish the existing filling-station shop and construct a new one with an emphasis on food-to-go in its place, while also “de-linking” the forecourt canopy from the shop building, and carrying out associated works.
Newark and Sherwood District Council saw things differently and ruled against MFG’s plans for the site, which lies in the village of Ollerton, 20 miles south-east of Sheffield.
The authority decreed the proposals “would result in an unacceptable increase in flood risk” as the site is in a flood zone, and the extended shop would “result in a material reduction in the functional floodplain”.
The council also determined the development “would result in harm to highway safety” as the firm had not “demonstrated that the local highway network has the capacity to accommodate the increased trips associated with the enlarged retail and ‘food to go’ offer”.
Unperturbed, MFG went back to the drawing board, and has now submitted a refined proposal for the site. Gone is the intention to demolish and rebuild the shop, and in its place is an application to add an extension to the kiosk, increasing its footprint by roughly a third, and adding a Greggs in the new space.
MFG says this project “directly addresses the concerns raised in relation to the reasons for refusal of previous application” and will require “only 5 sqm [53sq ft] of demolition works of the existing building”, while allowing the site to “meet the expectations of the modern motorist”.
