A council is ‘considering all options including legal action’ after a service station reopened despite being ordered to close over road safety planning breaches.
Mid Suffolk District Council yesterday served a notice, relating to the breach of planning conditions, on EG On The Move’s Elmswell Services, which opened last month off the A14 at Kiln Lane.
All businesses on the site, which includes a service station, Spar shop, Greggs and Starbucks, had to shut immediately until the owner, EG on the Move Ltd, met the conditions to carry out work on the access and exit points.
EG On The Move’s Elmswell Services, which opened last month off the A14 at Kiln Lane
However, the site has reopened, contravening the council’s breach of condition notice, which gave EG On The Move three months to resolve the issues.
A spokesperson for Mid Suffolk District Council said: “The businesses continuing to operate on the site are putting profit ahead of safety.
“They are in breach of the notice we have served, and we are considering all options available to us – including legal action.”
EG On The Move’s Elmswell Services, which opened last month off the A14 at Kiln Lane
EG On The Move has been approached for comment.
Mid Suffolk’s planning committee previously refused the proposals for the site – saying the design and layout, in particular the exit, would have a ‘severe and detrimental impact on highway safety’.
The authority raised concerns about the potential for accidents between vehicles exiting onto the A1088 and those using the existing A14 slip roads.
The decision was overturned on appeal by the planning inspectorate, subject to a number of conditions, relating to works on the access and exit points, to address the concerns.
EG On The Move’s Elmswell Services, which opened last month off the A14 at Kiln Lane
These had to be met before the site opened but were not.
If the notice is not complied with within three months, Mid Suffolk District Council can prosecute the site owners.
Yesterday, Cllr Andrew Stringer, Mid Suffolk’s cabinet member for heritage, planning and infrastructure, said: “We do not take this action lightly and recognise the impact it will have on the businesses, but we have a duty to uphold planning laws which are there to protect our residents.
“The safety of the local community, including customers and staff at the site, will always come first.
“It is simply unacceptable that important safety work, set out clearly by the Planning Inspectorate, has not happened ahead of opening.”
The council also served an enforcement notice because there was not an approved construction management plan and construction surface water management plan in place before work started.
The planning inspectorate said this was ‘so fundamental to the development that it would have been otherwise necessary to refuse permission’.