Step forward for M69 motorway service station plan

A brand new service station at the M69's junction with the A5 is close to full approval

The first services on the M69 motorway have been approved by one of two councils considering the plan.

Welcome Break wants to create petrol stations, a main building with fast food, coffee and convenience shops, a gaming zone, seating, toilets and showers, and units for drive-through businesses to use.

Despite traffic concerns, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council gave its blessing to the development, off the Stretton Baskerville Roundabout on the A5 at Burbage, at a meeting on 18 February.

The site, currently an unused former compound, sits on the border of Leicestershire and Warwickshire, so approval is also required from Rugby Borough Council.

Rugby council currently expects to rule on the plan by March, and the meeting heard the Warwickshire authority is set to approve the development "shortly".

Welcome Break said the facility would create the equivalent of about 120 full-time jobs.

Businesses named in the plans include KFC, Starbucks, Burger King and Pret A Manger.

The services at junction 1 would have 272 car parking spaces, picnic and dog walking facilities, and parking for HGVs, coaches, caravans and motorbikes.

These would include 37 charging stations for electric vehicles, Welcome Break said.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said Matthew Grey, an agent who spoke at the meeting on behalf of Welcome Break, pledged to councillors it would be a "comprehensive and modern facility".

The scheme also includes petrol stations and parking facilities for truckers

Some councillors expressed concerns over the impact on the A5.

Council leader Stuart Bray said: "I don't have a great deal of enthusiasm for this to be honest. Anything that increases congestion in and around the A5 at that area is something we've just got to be very mindful of. I'm hoping this won't do that.

"I think the positive of it is the lorry driver facilities."

A number of councillors talked about lorries staying overnight in lay-bys on the A5, with Cathie Gibbons saying there had been "several clear-ups needed" as a result.

Fellow councillor Keith Lynch said he couldn't "jump for joy over this", but said: "We desperately need those lorry parking spaces."

The vote to approve the plans was almost unanimous, with only one councillor choosing to abstain.

The road, which links Leicester and Coventry, opened in 1977 but has never had a formal service station.

Currently, motorists using the M69 have to exit the motorway to find petrol and facilities, or wait to reach Leicester Forest East on the M1 or Corley on the M6.