Westmorland Ltd has been granted planning permission for a new "eco-friendly" motorway service station
on the M5 in Gloucestershire.
Officials at Stroud District Council gave the £35m Gloucester Gateway project, which will serve locally-sourced food and ban fast food outlets like Costa Coffee and MacDonald’s, the thumbs up this week. The site will be located between junctions 11a and 12 of the motorway near Brookthorpe.
The development is a joint venture between Westmorland, which runs Tebay Services on the M6 in Cumbria, and charity Gloucestershire Gateway Trust (GGT). About 300 jobs will be created at the motorway service area (MSA) while a further 200 jobs will be supported through construction and working with the local supply chain.
The building, designed by Glenn Howells Architects, is due to be grass covered with a contemporary timber-clad interior. Westmorland said the services would have charging points for electric vehicles and the forecourt would be adapted to biofuel pumps in the future.
The project is expected to be completed in 2013.
Sarah Dunning, chief executive of Westmorland Ltd, added: "We are delighted with this decision as it gives us the opportunity to build on what we do at Tebay Services and provide our customers with another much needed outlet. Our approach in the motorway service area market is unique and we believe we can bring more quality and innovation to it.
"Our focus is all about promoting local – we have 38 years experience of delivering local benefit in Cumbria and we look forward to doing the same in Gloucestershire."
Westmorland said the plans were supported by the Department for Transport which stated there was a need for a service area in the location and had identified the site as one of a handful of gaps on the UK motorway network.
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