Land ahoy!Toll-booths site may offerWales golden opportunities
Tolls on the Second Severn Crossing could be abolished or become free-flowing in both directions next year. Either option will remove the need for the current toll booths. One expert believes the area has great potential, as Chris Kelsey reports...
ANEW motorway service station “fit for the 21st century” could be built if land was freed up by the removal of toll booths at the Severn Bridge, a property expert has said.
Welsh ministers and opposition politicians have called for tolls on the Severn Crossing to be abolished next year, while the UK government is proposing a sharp reduction to £3, or £1.50 each way with free-flow tolling.
Either abolition or free-flow tolling would remove the need for the array of toll booths that currently greet travellers coming off the bridge on the western side. And that could open up the opportunity for something else to be built on the site – such as a new motorway service station, or a piece of public art.
Chris Sutton, an industrial property expert and director of JLL in Cardiff, said clearing the toll booths and associated infrastructure would free up a large swathe of flat, developable land alongside the motorway.
“Why don’t we create a new, modern, fit-for-purpose motorway service station?” he said.
Asked whether a service station should be the first thing that travellers see when they enter Wales, Mr Sutton said: “Service stations have moved on, you don’t need to have a Little Chef or McDonald’s by the side of the road.
“It would need to be well designed and planned because it is the gateway to Wales, [but] here’s an opportunity to make a statement service station that’s a credit to Wales.”
He pointed to Gloucester Services on the M5, which has appeared in the Good Food Guide and won a Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) award for its operator, familyrun business Westmoreland.
Eschewing the typical motorway services’ offering of burgers and fast food, it instead offers locally sourced, farm-fresh and organic produce with specialities such as venison sausages and fresh fish flown in from Cornwall.
The nearest service station to the Severn Bridge on the Welsh side is at Magor. Roadchef, which operates Magor Services, has expressed concern that the plans for an M4 relief road along the Black Route would leave drivers having to travel along a 4.4-mile diversion to reach the service station.
Roadchef has asked the Welsh Government to consider reconfiguring Junction 23A of the M4 to allow direct access to Magor Services to continue.
Simon Turl, chief executive of Roadchef, said there was no need for a new service station at the bridge.
He said: “Magor is the busiest motorway service area operating in Wales by a considerable margin and welcomes over two million visitors each year and employs 126 people. Roadchef has proposed the simple addition of two slip roads to the relief road plan to access the existing service area, maintain its operation and safeguard the jobs of its employees.
“We do not see the logic in building a whole new motorway service area when a perfectly good service area already exists at Magor. We believe our proposal offers the best solution for motorists, employees and the people of South Wales.”
Mr Sutton also said that the toll plaza site could be used for a striking piece of public art, like the Angel of the North, to create a landmark.
“Not a clichéd dragon or daffodil, something a bit different,” he added.
“The key point is there’s a huge amount of land there worth something, let’s make it work for Wales, try to make it something of value.”
He said that tolls on the bridge act as a “disincentive” at a time when the logistics sector is booming, with just-in-time deliveries and ecommerce.
“It is notable how much development activity there is in Avonmouth and how little there is in south Wales. Indeed, Tesco closed their cold stores in Chepstow and relocated them to Avonmouth with tolls being a key factor,” he said.
He added that replacing the current tolls with free-flow tolling, which works by recording car number-plates using cameras on overhead mountings, made little sense because of the expense that would be involved in collecting small sums of money from millions of drivers.
Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns has admitted that free-flow tolling could be “hugely expensive”.
Speaking last autumn he said: “I would say that it is hugely expensive to deliver because there isn’t much competition for this. It’s something I am really keen to move on but let’s look at the numbers.”