Bid to stop M42 service station plan Traffic fears spark new petition
APETITION has been launched calling on Solihull Council to reject proposals to build a motorway service station in Shirley.
If approved, the development would be the first services built locally since 1999 when Hopwood opened at junction two of the M42, near Bromsgrove.
Ken Hawkins, Conservative councillor for Blythe, is campaigning against plans from developers Appletree to erect a new ‘sustainable’ service station at junction 4 of the M42, near Hockley Heath, citing congestions fears.
In 2009, the then Secretary of State said there ‘was a significant need for a new Motorway Service Area (MSA) in this area for highways safety reasons’.
Residents have been in limbo since 2014 when two separate planning applications were lodged with the council to build two stations.
Extra MSA Group unveiled proposals for a £65 million service station and hotel, creating around 300 jobs, on 169 acres of land on both sides of the M42 between junctions five and six, close to Birmingham Airport and Catherine-deBarnes.
Irish operator Applegreen, meanwhile, unveiled proposals for a smaller services at junction 4. The project, expected to create 336 jobs, would com- prise a petrol station, services and public space and be accessible to traffic in both directions.
The proposal is a sixth of the size of the Extra MSA plan and promises to be more ‘sustainable’. But the petition, via Change.org, says: “Highways England in August held off any determination of the application by Solihull Council for just three months and developers of a similar MSA near to junction 5 have written to the council seeking a date for determination of both MSA applications to be set by mid November 2018.
“The application for a MSA at junction 4 would mean 75% of all traffic movements negotiating the already busy traffic island with the main A34 dual carriageway, thereby creating additional congestion for commercial and residen- tial road users. Investment in the nearby Blythe Valley Park, which has permission for 1,000 additional new homes will be compromised through congestion an MSA will bring.
“Any MSA along this stretch of motorway must be self-contained within the motorway boundaries.”
Developers are seeking a decision this month but the council says it will not go to its planning committee until next year.
The application for a MSA at junction 4 would mean 75% of all traffic movements negotiating the already busy traffic island with the main A34 carriageway
Councillor Hawkins said: “The application for a motorway service area near junction 4 of the M42 in Solihull is moving on at pace.
“The application, first submitted in 2016, was held in abeyance by Highways England, essentially because of proposals to create better links to the airport between junctions 5 and 6.
“Also held in abeyance was a different application to build a service station near to junction 5. Although there are two planning applications in the borough’s planning system it is reasonable to expect that only one will eventually succeed, if any at all. Although the case for an MSA ‘somewhere’ on the M42 between Hopwood and the NEC junction is made, the location is not.
“The applicants, though, are pushing Solihull planners for a decision date for determination, and have stipulated it should be made very soon.”