Site visit to decide motorway service station plan

Councillors are to visit the site of a proposed service station and lorry park in North Lincolnshire before making a planning decision.

An application for the site at the Barnetby Top junction, where the M180 meets the A15 and A18, was submitted in 2021 and has been recommended for approval by council officers.

The development would have up to 200 parking spaces, a service station and two drive-through restaurants.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, North Lincolnshire Council has received 60 comments on the scheme, mostly objecting, with concerns raised about traffic.

Six parish councils have also objected.

The developer said the site would address a shortage of parking and welfare facilities for HGV drivers in North Lincolnshire and create up to 75 jobs.

Steve Moir, an Elsham parish councillor, said the village seemed “universally against it”.

He claimed rush-hour travel times into Barnetby were horrendous and there were regular accidents.

“The proposed lorry park is a duplication of services already in place,” he argued.

James Rigby, the agent for the applicants Lindum Group Limited and Brocklesby Estate, welcomed the officers’ recommendation for approval.

He said the site was “viewed as an optimal location” and a survey had shown many drivers “stopping in inappropriate lay-bys without access to welfare facilities”.

Lay-by parking was a problem on the outskirts of Scunthorpe and Brigg, he added.

Councillor Carl Sherwood told a planning meeting that he and Councillor Rob Waltham had called the application in.

He said he had been contacted by many people, not all against it. “I can foresee quite a few problems, not least the highways,” he added.

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