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Motoring news

'Local' motorway services get go-ahead

24/08/2010

A controversial new motorway service station for the M5 in Gloucestershire has been given approval by Stroud District Council.

The so-called Gloucester Gateway services, which will generate up to 300 jobs and aim to use 80% less energy than a typical development, are now likely to be built near Brookthorpe, Gloucestershire. The 70-acre site, between junctions 11a and 12, is on a long stretch of the motorway that is currently without facilities.

A joint project of charity the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust and Westmorland Limited - which owns and operates Tebay services in Cumbria - the £35 million development will aim to provide locally-sourced food, feeding revenue back into the local community.

However, the scheme has proved divisive, with the council's development control committee having received nearly 500 letters of objection, against 400 in support, This is Gloucestershire reports. Local protest group Camsa had also handed the council a 1,089-signature petition against the development.

The committee, whose chairman described the plans as the most controversial to come before it in 10 years, voted 6-4 in favour of the project.

Westmorland chief executive Sarah Dunning said that her company's focus was on "promoting local".

"We have 38 years' experience of delivering local benefit in Cumbria and we look forward to doing the same in Gloucestershire."

The approval comes as the Highways Agency, which first identified the need for services in the area, begins work to widen the motorway at junction 12 in a bid to reduce congestion. In May, motoring charity the RAC Foundation claimed that high prices at motorway service stations could be discouraging drivers from stopping, potentially increasing the rate of accidents on motorways.

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