Decision day looms for Ludlow petrol station plans

The plans for the six-pump filling station, convenience store and coffee shop at the northern entrance to Ludlow will return before councillors on Tuesday after being held back for negotiations over both road safety and opening hours.

The petrol station, at the former Burway Abattoir site on the corner of Bromfield Road and Coronation Avenue, is now recommended to be passed, open around the clock but with sales limited to fuel-only between midnight and 6am, a planning report has revealed.

The plans now also include a £40,000 contribution by developer Mead House Pension Scheme for a zebra crossing on Coronation Avenue and speed bumps on that road and Bromfield Road.

The developer said it could not pay the £150,000 needed for two signalled crossings, as originally suggested, as it would make the proposal "unviable".

Tim Rogers, Shropshire Council planning officer, said: "Officers have negotiated an improved contribution from the applicant which will deliver an acceptable pedestrian improvement.

"Additional conditions have also been recommended to cover parking provision and provide safeguards for late night opening of the proposed shop.

"This proposal as a whole has been the subject of negotiations over several months and they have resulted in a scheme that officers can support." He said officers were satisfied there was a need for a 24-hour petrol station in Ludlow, but thought it wise to limit general shop sales in the early hours so neighbours are not disturbed by customers coming and going.

The town has only one petrol station currently, run by Midcounties Co-operative off the A49 bypass to the south, but it is not 24-hour, and neither are the nearest filling stations in Craven Arms.

Councillors on Shropshire Council's south planning committee indicated in March that they would pass the scheme as long as such issues were agreed, though some members said 24-hour opening would be "excessive".

But 73 per cent of people in an online survey by ward councillor Andy Boddington said they wanted the pumps open through the night.

Councillor Boddington, who originally objected to the scheme, said he agreed there was a case for round-the-clock opening. He said he was happy there had been a "generous contribution" to road safety measures at the site, but thought the zebra crossing was in the wrong place.

"The pedestrian traffic along Coronation Avenue is low compared to Bromfield Road," he said. "That's why the zebra should be in Bromfield Road. That will put it in the best place for school children to cross as well."

The development is also planned to have "bomb proof" tanks that are alarmed in case of leaks.