Fuzail Patel has been granted planning permission to develop Redbeck Filling Station in Wakefield with a 6,700sq ft shop, drive-thru pod, jet washing and four EV charging bays.
It took 16 months for Wakefield Council to give the go ahead for the knockdown rebuild of the Shell/Nisa-branded site which Patel says will be repositioned as “a modern roadside destination”.
The development on Doncaster Road will more than quadruple the size of the existing shop. It will include sustainable touches with the company exploring solar integration and energy-efficient refrigeration.
Patel says that the planning process took longer than normal due to the complexity of the scheme, which needed to align highways, environmental, drainage and design considerations.
He is now engaging with potential partners for the drive-thru pod, which he says does not necessarily need to be limited to coffee. “We’ll see what the market brings,” he says.
He is also talking with EV chargepoint operators, in-store concessions, and store fascia groups, with contenders including Morrisons Daily, Co-op Wholesale and Spar.
“Given the scale of the retail space, we see a strong opportunity to introduce a broader mix of uses within the forecourt environment, including both established brands and local independent businesses,” says Patel.
“Our aim is to create a site that reflects how forecourts are evolving – moving beyond fuel to become multi-use destinations that better serve local communities and passing traffic,” he adds.
Work on the Wakefield site, which will include two jet wash bays, is not expected to start until next year. It is one of four owned and operated by the Redbeck Group including two sites in Greater Manchester – Urmston and Irlam – and another in Rotherham.
Its Sandgate site at Urmston is also being improved with a knockdown rebuild underway and its new interceptors and tanks in place.
The plan is for the new Sandgate petrol station to be open by the end of this August. Redbeck’s Irlam site has also benefited from recent investment, with a £250,000 refit in February seeing shop sales amost double.
Urban Future Planning Consultancy, which advised on the Wakefield project, said at the time that the changes would future-proof the site.
In its planning submission to the council it said that there was a “renewed need” for enhanced roadside services within the immediate locality and that the scheme “primarily seeks to prepare the site for the inevitable phasing out of petrol/diesel vehicles and the rapid transition to electric and hybrid powered vehicles, which is well underway”.
