Proposals put forward by Top 50 Indie Ascona to comprehensively rebuild a forecourt and attached café in mid Wales have been refused by the local authority after highways officials recommended against the plans.
The firm initially applied for planning permission to knock down and rebuild the Crossgates filling station in Llandrindod on the A44, 30 miles to the west of Leominster, in 2023. The café, with an additional drive-through facility, was to be rebuilt as part of a new building also containing the filling-station shop, while the forecourt was to be totally reconstructed complete with fresh pumps, tanks and lines. A laundrette and EV charging were to be added behind the café, and a pair of jet wash bays would have been constructed near the forecourt exit.
The site has an unusual configuration due to three acess points existing for the plot: a conventional entrance, and separate exit, with a third entrance for a car park serving the café and forecourt shop.
Further complication is brought by a separate commercial unit at the rear of the plot, with this having right of way through the site to access the main road.
Ascona sought to rationalise this setup by unifying the two site entrances, building an access road for the commercial unit and a car park that would sit between this and the forecourt café/shop. A separate drive-through lane would run alongside and then behind the retail building, exiting to the edge of the forecourt.
On receiving Ascona’s plans the county council’s highway authority said that while the proposals amounted to a “like for like replacement” of the existing facilities and they had “no fundamental objection to the proposals”, the “enlarged forecourt” that Ascona proposed would change traffic movements that had “operated safely” for many years.
The official was concerned that the new, “enlarged forecourt area and revised access protocols would not aid traffic movements into or out of the site”. They also highlighted that the western access point (seen to the left of the above image) would “would accommodate the traffic movements associated with the commercial units, the food outlet and drive-through, as well as the PFS and convenience store”.
The officer also considered that while Ascona’s plans intended traffic leaving the site’s car park and the separate commercial unit would use the eastern exit, this was likely to “be inconvenient and unenforceable”, with drivers more likely to use the western access to leave; as this was designed to be the forecourt entrance, this would cause “conflicting traffic movements”.
The highways authority also cautioned that vehicles entering the site from the east would be faced with a “challenging right turn manoeuvre into the busier western access”, which would be particularly difficult for larger vehicles.
While some to-ing and fro-ing took place between Ascona and the authority, Powys County Council ruled against the firm in August 2025, finding that the development “fails to demonstrate that there would not be an unacceptable impact on highway safety”. The authority also found a Green Infrastructure Statement had not been provided.
