The Westmorland Family Ltd has asked Westmorland and Furness Council for a formal Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening opinion on work it wants to do at Tebay Northbound Motorway Service Area (MSA).
The company wants to reconfigure and extend the parking at the site and partly demolish and redevelop the existing MSA building.
At the same time, the company is asking for separate EIA screening opinions for the redevelopment of Tebay MSA Southbound services and for proposals for a solar farm of up to 1.25MW to support the increasing electrical need at Tebay MSAs.
The application says these can be considered separate schemes as they can be delivered entirely independently from each other and have no functional interdependence.
The Northbound proposal would include a new road layout to prevent congestion at peak times, including the introduction of two separate lanes as you enter the MSA, one for HGV sand coaches and the other for small vehicles. There would also be segregated parking for different vehicle types.
Up to 350 car parking spaces are proposed, which provides a total net gain of around 30 spaces, including additional disabled bays and the introduction of family car bays. Approximately 75 parking spaces are identified for future EV provision which would be delivered in phases as the availability of energy to the site is increased.
There would also be 23 HGV parking spaces providing a net gain of three spaces and five dedicated coach spaces.
In the MSA building, the existing pavilion dining areas, which provide views of the duck pond and wider landscape, will be retained. The redevelopment of the building includes an expansion of the existing facilities of approximately 1,000sqm, which would bring the total floor space to approximately 3,000sqm.
A landscape strategy is proposed to soften the proposed development within the wider landscape and also provide screening to the adjacent motorway. Landscape planting is also proposed throughout the site to break up the car parking area as well as bring biodiversity within the car park. Strips of planting have been included in between spaces and along walkways for pedestrians. Existing vegetation and trees present on site will be retained where possible.
The Southbound proposals include the extension of the existing facilities building, provision of a drive-through at the existing petrol filling station and the redevelopment of the car park to provide increased efficiency and circulation, while also providing increased parking and dedicated space for future EV charging.
The solar development proposes a solar farm generating up to 1.25 MW of energy across two land parcels to serve Tebay Services. While no formal planning applications have been made for these two schemes yet, the Westmorland Family says it is likely they could be delivered at a similar time as the Northbound development.
