Local authorities in Scotland have granted permission for a new restaurant with EV charging bays to be built on a site that previously traded as a filling station.
The plot, in Rutherglen, three miles to the south of Glasgow, was home to a Shell forecourt until around 15 years ago. The canopy, pumps and tanks were subsequently removed, and the site became derelict.
Various proposals were submitted to South Lanarkshire Council in the intervening years, with applications including a hand car wash, an office and a residential building, with the car wash being refused permission, and the office and residential development failing to materialise.
In September this year a local firm applied for permission to construct a 1,500sq ft restaurant with takeaway facility on the site, with this being served by eight parking bays, two of which will feature EV charging.
These proposals met with a mixed reaction from local residents, with 14 people objecting to the plans and 24 supporting them. Councillors ultimately sided with those in support, ruling that the project can go ahead, partly as it is in-line with a policy that aims to “promote and facilitate the reuse of brownfield, vacant and derelict land and empty buildings, and to help reduce the need for greenfield development”.
