MFG’s wish to keep a Somerset filling station open 24 hours a day has been quashed by the local authority, with councillors ruling that extending the site’s opening hours would lead to unacceptable disruption to the community.
The firm had previously secured a 24-hour alcohol licence for its Bath Road forecourt in Wells, Somerset, and was seeking to have the shop’s opening hours follow suit. MFG argued that making the site a 24-hour one would “provide an essential service for emergency vehicles, shift workers, delivery drivers and motorists travelling outside standard hours”.
The firm agreed it would only serve through the shop’s night hatch between 10pm and 6am; that only the central row of fuel pumps would be open overnight; and that no deliveries would taken place in the small hours.
Despite these conditions, however, and a recommendation from Somerset Council’s planning officers that a 24-hour licence be granted, the council itself ruled the site must close at 10pm.
The authority argued that implementing 24-hour opening would cause “harms to residential amenity” via noise – including “activities and reversing noises” and “lighting (including headlights)”, as well as “anti-social behaviour in a densely populated residential area”.
