Final filling station closes down

Showroom site to make way for student homes

gwarren@thekmgroup ONE of the best known business locations in the city – the Peugeot car showroom and petrol station on the city ring road – has been closed down.

It follows a planning application to redevelop part of the site and build six-storey blocks of student flats.

Motorline has relocated the Peugeot dealership to Broad Oak Road but the loss of the city centre’s only filling station, which had been there for decades, will be felt by motorists.

The site is owned by Peugeot. Company spokesman Steve Faye said it was being sold by the company and it had no plans to reopen a petrol forecourt.

The plans for the site include five new buildings with a total of 432 rooms for student accommodation to the rear of the land.

But already the Oaten Hill District Society has lodged a formal objection with the city council.

Chairman Fred Whitemore said members were concerned by the scale and density of the buildings and their lack of integration with Augustine House .

“Quite simply, we think they need to go back and think again,” he said.

A development brief for the site was drawn up by the Canterbury City Council in November 2011, which proposed a variety of mixed uses, including retail and student accommodation.

There are still no proposals for what may be built on the front of the site despite the relocation of the Motorline Peugeot.

Mr Whitemore said great care and sympathy would be needed in deciding what could be built on the land nearest the ring road.

He said: “There were mixed opinions about Augustine House but most people agreed it was a quality development.”

What do you think? Email kentishgazette@thekmgroup.co.uk or write to Gazette House, 5-8 Boorman Way, Wraik Hill, Whitstable, CT5 3SE

Picture: Chris Davey FUEL LOSS: The closure of the Peugeot filling station on the ring road in Canterbury means there is no longer a petrol filling station in the city centre