The government’s Planning Inspectorate has overturned Mid Suffolk District Council’s refusal of planning permission for a pair of totem signs at an EG On The Move forecourt on the A14 by the village of Elmswell.
The local authority originally ruled that the signs – one seven metres tall and one 10m in height – would “present stark features out of keeping with the unspoilt character of the surrounding countryside” and “result in harm the setting and significance of designated heritage assets”.
Elmswell Parish Council made representations during the original planning application stating that the pole signs would simultaneously impose “an urbanising light glow” and “a suburban result in this rural location”, while having a “deleterious effect on biodiversity and wildlife”. One councillor at the meeting where the application was discussed, meanwhile, branded the proposed totems a “hideous intrusion on the landscape”.
EG On The Move disagreed with these assessments and lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate, which found in the forecourt firm’s favour.
The Inspectorate determined that the A14 on which the forecourt sits “represents a strongly urbanising feature in the landscape”, adding that the site is “not located within an area of unspoilt countryside”.
The body deemed the signs would be “of a height and scale commonly found at PFSs”, while the forecourt itself is “a small feature in the otherwise expansive landscape and is not prominent due to its low position”.
Elmswell Services, which features a Starbucks and Greggs as well as a forecourt, has an involved planning history. Permission to build the site was initially refused by Mid Suffolk only to be later granted by the Planning Inspectorate on appeal.
The site was forced to close in January 2025 shortly after opening due to safety concerns relating to the site’s exit onto the main road, only reopening in March once amendments had been made to its slip road.
