A former Mitsubishi dealership in Preston, Lancashire, is to be given a new lease of life after James Hall & Co. gained planning permission to convert the site into a new filling station.
The Lancashire-based family-run firm operates dozens of forecourts and around 150 convenience stories in the North of England. In July this year it applied for full planning permission to redevelop what used to be Browns Mitsubishi on Preston Road in Grimsargh, a village on the outskirts of Preston.
The firm intends to keep the existing sales building, inserting large aluminium-framed windows into the structure and kitting the roof out with solar panels to create a 3,000sq ft Spar retail space.
Outside, two canopy-covered pump islands and 22 parking spaces will feature, alongside an EV charging bay, while the forecourt is expected to create 10 full-time and 20 part-time jobs.
A meeting of Preston City Council’s planning committee on November 6 granted permission for the development to go ahead. The council noted that prior to becoming a car dealership in the 1990s the site used to be a petrol station, meaning its initial position was that “the proposal is acceptable in principle”.
No objections to the plans were made by the local Health and Safety Executive, Environmental Health, or Parks Department. Grimsargh Parish Council did object, however, citing concerns over issues including traffic, parking, noise, odour, light pollution, drainage, groundwater contamination, waste storage, pedestrian safety, highway safety and fire safety.
Some 43 letters of objection were received from members of the public, many along similar lines to the parish council’s. Six letters of support were also submitted, with residents arguing that the development would bring new jobs and provide a valuable local amenity.
Ultimately, the city council found in James Hall & Co.’s favour. The authority addressed each of the objections raised, highlighting, for example, that the 22 proposed parking spaces would “be sufficient to meet the anticipated parking demand”, and that a new filling station was unlikely to significantly increase traffic as the majority visitors to the forecourt ”will not be new trips and will likely be vehicles already passing the site”, adding that “the previous car showroom and sales area would have had its own specific trips that it generated”.
