Plans for £2.5m petrol station in Ballynahinch

Plans for £2.5m petrol station in Ballynahinch

31 March 2021

BALLYNAHINCH could be in line for a major jobs boost.

Plans have been lodged to build a new petrol station at the junction of the Ballynahinch Road and Magheraknock Road as part of a £2.5m investment that will create 65 new jobs.

A development proposal for a vacant corner site lodged at the start of the month is seeking full permission to develop a new petrol station featuring eight pumps, convenience shop with deli counter, canopy and underground storage tanks.

The proposal also features three electric vehicle charging points, car parking for 50 vehicles, a jet wash, play area, landscaping and site and access works.

Planning papers confirm that the site will be accessed off the Magheraknock Road with the proposed development offering over 50 car parking spaces, four of which will be reserved for disabled drivers and another two for mothers and toddlers.

The papers say that due to the “modest scale of the development and low numbers of cars generated,” it is not anticipated that the development will have any detrimental impact on noise and air quality of the surrounding environment.

Planning permission for a filling station, shop and car wash was previously granted for the development site in 1993, with the planning papers outlining the proposed play area will be located at the south western boundary of the site and lead to a new pedestrian connection from the site to an existing footpath along the Ballynahinch Road.

This has been designed to allow children within surrounding residential developments to use the play equipment.

The planning papers say previous planning permission for 139 square metres of retail space is insufficient to meet the needs of the local neighbourhood which is devoid of local retail provision.

“The application represents an opportunity to redesign the layout to provide a modern style of development on a prominent site at the corner of the Magheraknock Road and Ballynahinch Road which will provide a convenient roadside facility for surrounding rural settlements and a local convenience function for the immediate residential context,” the papers continue.

“The design and layout of the proposal is not uncharacteristic of that of a typical roadside facility and has been designed to to take full cognisance of the site’s constraints and to ensure there are limited negative amenity impacts on surrounding residential receptors.”

A needs assessment document submitted as part of the planning application argues that the area around the proposed development site “lacks a local neighbourhood facility to serve existing developments” and those that will be developed in the future.

In addition, the assessment argues that the proposal will have a “negligible impact” on like-for-like development within the catchment and convenience operators in Ballynahinch town centre.

The assessment said it has demonstrated that there is a clear quantitative and qualitative need for the proposal to provide a much-needed service station and neighbourhood facility to serve the locality and wider rural settlements.