First M69 service station plans take step forward

Two councils are considering the scheme for a new service station

The first services on the M69 motorway are recommended for approval 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.

Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council is set to approve the development off the Stretton Baskerville Roundabout on the A5 at Burbage at a meeting on Tuesday.

But 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.

Welcome Break has lined up a number of businesses should the development get planning approval

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, said Welcome Break.

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.