A petrol station in Yate was refused planning permission to open at 6am every day as cars could wake up neighbours living nearby. Councillors warned that the plans to open earlier would lead to noisy vehicles and bright headlights impacting the sleep of residents next to the petrol station.
Motor Fuel Group operates the petrol station at the Morrisons supermarket, off Station Road, which currently opens at 7am on most days and 8am on Sundays. The firm applied for planning permission from South Gloucestershire Council to open at 6am instead.
They said the earlier opening hours would benefit healthcare workers, delivery drivers, agricultural workers, and service industry employees. But councillors on the development management committee voted to refuse the plans on Thursday, December 19.
Liberal Democrat Councillor Chris Willmore, representing Yate North, said: “The access to this garage isn’t from a main road. In order to get access to it, you have to go into Poole Court Drive, which is a small and narrow road immediately behind residential properties, and which at six o’clock in the morning is quiet.
“You’re introducing vehicle movements into a road that is immediately behind residential properties at 6am. In Yate we have four petrol stations. Two of them are on the main road through town and they have 24-hour opening. They’re well-screened from residential properties and it’s perfectly reasonable that they’re open for 24 hours.
“We have one other petrol station that’s in a residential area, although its access is from the Westerleigh Road. But it has limits on its hours that are six o’clock in the morning on weekdays, seven o’clock on Saturdays and eight o’clock on a Sunday. This application site is far more intrusive into the amenity of those houses on its access route — yet it’s asking for 6am.”
A noise assessment found that the petrol station would not cause annoyance to nearby residents. But this focused on sound in the petrol station, rather than vehicles driving past the houses. However one council officer said: “Houses are next to roads, it’s quite a common arrangement. Cars could go down there at any time of day or night.”