CONTROVERSIAL plans for a service station off the A39 between Dunster and Minehead have been refused by Somerset Council planners.

Dorset-based Forelle Estates Ltd wanted to build a petrol filling station on 1.7-acres off Ellicombe roundabout.

The development would also have included a Costa coffee drive-thru, a convenience store, an electric vehicle (EV) charging hub, and vehicle valeting services.

The council received more than 850 letters about the application, 718 objecting and 130 in support.

Some of the group of residents in Ellicombe, Minehead, who are fighting plans for a roadside service station off the A39 roundabout.
Some of the group of residents in Ellicombe, Minehead, who have been fighting plans for a roadside service station off the A39 roundabout. ( )

Town councillors in Minehead and parish councillors in Dunster also strongly opposed the development.

Planning officer Joe Yardley said it represented an ‘unsustainable, out-of-boundary commercial development’ which would cause ‘unacceptable landscape harm, highway safety risks, and amenity impacts’.

Mr Yardley said there would also be adverse effects on the ‘rural gateway to Exmoor’.

He said the plans failed the required ‘sequential test’, where developers have to show there were no other suitable and available sites closer to the town centre.

Mr Yardley said the proposals ‘demonstrate no clear need, and lacks sufficient drainage information, leading to an overall recommendation of refusal’.

He said: “Overall, the site occupies a highly visible position at a key transport junction on the edge of Minehead.

A computer generated image of how the Forelle service station off the A39 near Minehead would look. IMAGE: Forelle Estates.
A computer generated image of how the Forelle service station off the A39 near Minehead would have looked. IMAGE: Forelle Estates. ( )

“It is influenced by both urban and rural elements, forming part of a gateway into the town while also lying close to sensitive landscapes and the setting of the Exmoor National Park.

“The proposed development would introduce a substantially more intensive and urbanised form of activity into what is currently a predominantly open and visually transitional edge of settlement landscape.

“Broadly speaking, while the provision of electric vehicle charging is supported in principle, this does not outweigh the fundamental policy conflict arising from the location of the proposal in the open countryside.”

In March, the Free Press reported how Forelle was already threatening to take its application to an expensive planning appeal.