Issa brothers service station plans rejected

The proposals would have resulted in the employment of up to 70 people at the site

A new service station will not be built off the M62 in Greater Manchester after plans were rejected.

Euro Garages, founded in Bury by Blackburn-based brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa, wanted to build a petrol station and two drive-through restaurants on Sir Isaac Newton Way, not far from a junction serving the motorway.

The proposal would have been within the vicinity of Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale and employed up to 70 people in the area.

But planning officers refused the plan after deciding the drive-through service, which had not been assigned to a particular brand, would "fail to support healthy lifestyles".

Rochdale Borough Council also ruled the effect on traffic from the new facility would create an unacceptable level of harm to neighbours, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

'Inaccurate statement'

In plans submitted to the authority, which also included a car jet wash and electric charging points, Euro Garages said it believed the site would not increase traffic in the area, but serve the current passing trade of motorists.

An inspector for the Department for Transport stated in a report that this development "would go some way to meeting an otherwise unmet, or inadequately met, need for a petrol station and motorist facilities in the area".

But in response to this, a council report highlighted the planning statement was inaccurate.

It read: "The statement is based on an incorrect and incomplete assessment which argues the proposals would fill a strategic gap in motorist fuel, food and beverage and rest provision.

"The applicant states that the closest services westbound from Junction 21 are at Birch services and that these are 24 miles away.

"For traffic westbound from Junction 21, Birch services are in reality less than six miles away.

"The statement notes that the closest services eastbound are at Hartshead Moor and that these are also 24 miles away, however, the eastbound side of the services at Hartshead Moor is in fact less than 19 miles away from Junction 21."

Hartshead Moor East services were last year ranked the worst in Britain for the second year in a row.