A planning application that has been in progress for over four years has concluded with Top 50 Indie Valli Forecourts being refused permission to build a new filling station, with the complex project seeing a local MP, plus a rival forecourt operator, lodge objections to the proposals.
In September 2021 Valli submitted plans to North Yorkshire Council to build a 24-hour, four pump-island forecourt complete with a 5,110 sq ft shop, five jet-wash bays, an automatic car wash and six EV charging spots by a roundabout on the A19 York Road near the village of Barlby.
The firm subsequently revised its plans, submitting a total of three design and access statements, with one notable change being the removal of an HGV refuelling facility from the proposals.
Unusually, rival forecourt and fellow Top 50 Indie Jos Richardson & Sons was one of the many individuals and organisations to object to Valli’s proposals. JR&S’s property and development manager deemed them “ill-designed, unsustainable and unnecessary”, and said the “protracted application” process signalled “how problematic the proposal clearly is.”
Issues raised by the firm included the fact that there are four existing petrol stations within four miles of the proposed site, while JR&S also warned that the “narrow and linear” site appeared “incapable of safely accommodating the proposed development… without seriously endangering pedestrians and the wider road network”. The manager also highlighted that the A19/A163 roundabout “was built to the minimum specification required for an ‘A’ road junction” and ” was not designed to support movements of HGV vehicles”.
Objections flooded in from locals, too, with 125 residents opposing the plans. These objections even caught the attention of local MP Keir Mather, whose office wrote to North Yorkshire Council on behalf of “several constituents”, highlighting their concerns that the plans were unsuitable.
On November 20, 2025 North Yorkshire Council recommended planning permission be granted to Valli, but members of North Yorkshire Council’s Selby and Ainsty area planning committee voted down the plans. The BBC reports that councillor Stephanie Duckett, who represents Barlby and Riccall, said the development was “not wanted and not needed”.
