Plans to reinstate a former petrol station that currently trades as a used-car dealership have been turned down by a local council after the applicant used the wrong route to seek permission.
MTS Fuels had already begun work on the project, at Plumley in Chesire, and had applied to Cheshire East Council for a certificate of lawful development to turn the site back into a petrol station, keeping the existing canopy and shop building, and adding a car wash and pumps to the site.
The local authority declined to issue the certificate, however, stating that a change of use such as was requested is not covered by a General Permitted Development Order, and instead requires a full planning application to be submitted.
The council also ruled that as works had already commenced on the site and the developer had not explained to what extent these had been completed, it would not be able to consider the application as a ‘proposed’ development even if full planning were not required.
