Death and taxes are commonly cited as two certainties in life, but there is little doubt a third could be that whenever there are plans, objections will follow – especially when the plans in question are for a new motorway services area.
Just a month after it submitted an application for outline planning permission for a new MSA on the M27 by Fareham, Welcome Break has already encountered resistance, with 19 public comments having been submitted to Fareham Borough Council in relation to its proposed development.
In fairness, three of these are supportive of the scheme, arguing variously that the 250 jobs a new MSA would create would bring a welcome boost to the local economy; that the M27 in the area is “desperately lacking in motorway services and lorry parking provisions”; and that a new services would make the more area attractive for visitors.
The vast majority of comments, however, object to the plans, with residents primarily concerned that a new MSA would increase traffic and have a deleterious effect on the area’s rural nature.
One respondent questions the need for an MSA in the area given the M27 is “possibly the shortest, least remote, motorway in the entire country”, while another worries that Junction 11, where the services would be constructed, “is already extremely congested” and “not suitable for additional vehicle movements”.
A third commenter worries that dormouse and skylark populations would be adversely affected by the plans, while a fourth pleads with the council: “Fareham is a home. Not a pitstop. It is a community. Please don’t do this.”
Outline planning permission is a precursor to a full application being made, indicating Welcome Break’s battles over its Fareham aspirations could only just be beginning. The firm will almost certainly be hoping this planning process will be shorter than the one that surrounds its proposed Vale of York services on the A1(M), which has been inching its way through planning for almost a quarter of a century.
