Nottingham-based fuel retail firm Bushbury Ltd’s plans to build a new petrol station in Wolverhampton have been rejected again – this time on appeal.
The company applied for planning permission for the scheme on the vacant land previously occupied by Newbridge Services, on the corner of Tettenhall Road and New Road.
The service station closed in 2005 and the building fell into disrepair before being demolished in 2010. Since then the site has been derelict and was described by the applicant’s consultants as an eyesore.
Council planners refused the original planning proposals on the grounds of noise disturbance and poor design. Bushbury’s agents then appealed to the Planning Inspectorate.
The Planning Inspectorate dismissed the appeal because of the “noise and disturbance” the new forecourt would cause to neighbours, most of which would come from the car wash area and in particular “the use of a high pressure water spray hitting the vehicles, air/water pumps and the general noise and disturbance associated with a petrol station such as car door slams, public announcement system and the manoeuvring of vehicles”.
The inspector also said that the design of the new development would appear “incongruous and unsympathetic” to the character and appearance of the wider area, something which would be heightened by the lack of opportunities for landscaping.
