Latest news with #serviceStation
BBC News
24-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Cartgate service station opposes A403 Welcome Break plan
Senior staff at an independent service station have said they feel "threatened" by proposals to build a Welcome Break services next proposals suggest developing the land west of the Cartgate Lodge picnic area off the A303 near Yeovil, Somerset, to include takeaways and drive-thru has been on the site for about 20 years and used to be a caravan park until it expanded into a bigger building with a picnic area and toilet Adam Thurgood said: "I'm all for the little man. This is a David-and-Goliath situation. It is not needed." Mr Thurgood said the 12 members of staff who work at the lodge have become "a family", and dreads having to reduce his payroll if revenue falls. "Every member of staff has been here for years. We are family here, people know our names when they come in," he said."Everyone here is really, really upset about it all." Mr Thurgood said the picnic area has become a hub for people to meet and socialise, creating an atmosphere "you would not get in a service station". "Who needs more fast food? Everything here is sourced locally and homemade by our chefs," he continued.." Jenny Essom said she and her husband visit Cartgate each time they drive down to Cornwall in their caravan. "The food is absolutely beautiful, so fresh and lovely. It's just wonderful," she said."We don't need another Welcome Break to stop at - they're all around the area. There's one just across the road. "It really isn't fair because of the people that work so hard here [at Cartgate]. If they keep going we will still come, but not everyone will obviously." A spokesman for ADS Design, which is representing the developer, previously told the BBC: "The proposed services will positively promote the area and provide a safe and comfortable refuge to visiting motorists."
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
New service station planned for busy A-road
A service station could be built on the A303 in Somerset, after plans were submitted to the council. Under the new proposal the Cartgate Picnic Area near Yeovil would be developed by Welcome Break and include takeaways and drive-thru services. It comes as the company plans to build a new facility on the M5 at junction 24 Bridgwater. It is thought the plans, if approved, could bring up to 90 jobs to the area, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. More news stories for Somerset Listen to the latest news for Somerset The main building within the centre of the site (near the petrol pumps) would include Greggs, Taco Bell and a drive-thru KFC with a large public seating area, toilets, showers and gaming zone. There will also be 145 parking spaces, including electric charging points. A spokesman for ADS Design, which is representing the developer, said: "The proposed trunk road service area meets the needs of the location while maximising the potential of the site and delivering a building of significant design merit. "The proposed services will positively promote the area and provide a safe and comfortable refuge to visiting motorists. "These proposals represent a unique service area which engages modern building materials in a timeless fashion, to create a space that injects a little flourish into refuelling and provides an important economic investment to the area," they added. Follow BBC Somerset on Facebook and X. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. New M5 services to provide 150 local jobs Services with cult following marks tenth anniversary Local Democracy Reporting Service
BBC News
23-06-2025
- Automotive
- BBC News
Plans submitted for new service station on A303 in Somerset
A service station could be built on the A303 in Somerset, after plans were submitted to the the new proposal the Cartgate Picnic Area near Yeovil would be developed by Welcome Break and include takeaways and drive-thru comes as the company plans to build a new facility on the M5 at junction 24 is thought the plans, if approved, could bring up to 90 jobs to the area, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The main building within the centre of the site (near the petrol pumps) would include Greggs, Taco Bell and a drive-thru KFC with a large public seating area, toilets, showers and gaming will also be 145 parking spaces, including electric charging points.A spokesman for ADS Design, which is representing the developer, said: "The proposed trunk road service area meets the needs of the location while maximising the potential of the site and delivering a building of significant design merit."The proposed services will positively promote the area and provide a safe and comfortable refuge to visiting motorists."These proposals represent a unique service area which engages modern building materials in a timeless fashion, to create a space that injects a little flourish into refuelling and provides an important economic investment to the area," they added.
BBC News
04-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Boroughbridge services plan should be rethought
Campaigners against a planned new motorway service station have called for the project to be reconsidered after new proposals were planning permission was granted for a new Welcome Break motorway service area on the A1(M) at Kirby Hill, near Boroughbridge, in objectors said bigger structures covering more land had since been proposed, and asked North Yorkshire Council to consider whether the most recent plans required a fresh environmental impact assessment to be carried out.A North Yorkshire Council spokesperson said the Vale of York service station plan "remained under consideration" and the authority was not able to comment on live applications. Members of the Kirby Hill Residents Against Motorway Services (RAMS) group said recently submitted plans showed the proposed service station had grown in scale, with the new motorway overbridge required to access the services now 30% higher than the design approved in the outline plans also showed the scheme's infrastructure now extended east of the motorway across a field previously earmarked to return to agriculture, bringing the development closer to the village of Kirby Hill, campaigners said. Gareth Owens, chair of Kirby Hill RAMS, said: "It's not what was approved. It's bigger, it's bulkier and it's crept well beyond the agreed scale and impact."The increased environmental harm hasn't even been assessed by the applicant."Kirby Hill RAMS said it had formally asked North Yorkshire Council to issue a "screening opinion" as to whether the new reserved plans should be accompanied by a fresh environmental impact group said lawyers for the council were yet to respond, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Owens said: "Applegreen and Welcome Break are trying to force through a detailed planning application that's now riddled with problems."This would be a sub-standard, environmentally harmful motorway service area, not fit for the 21st Century."He added: "If the scheme can't be built to conform with the outline permission, the reserved matters application cannot be used to change it into something that would never have been approved."Mr Owens said planners should refuse the application and "send the developer back to the drawing board".Martin Grainger, North Yorkshire Council's head of development management, said: "The reserved matters application relating to the Vale of York motorway service station proposal remains under consideration and will be reported to members of the council's strategic planning committee at the appropriate point."Welcome Break has been approached for comment. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Daily Mail
01-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Grace Dent reveals the secret job she hated before finding fame - as she replaces Gregg Wallace on MasterChef
From scrubbing toilets to being scalded with boiling hot tea water, Grace Dent has revealed the secret job she hated before finding fame. The TV star, 51, who is known for her razor sharp restaurant critiques, said her career in food had a very unlikely beginning at Southwaite service station on the M6. And speaking on the new Mercedes-Benz Vans Under the Bonnet podcast, she told how she had to grit her teeth while racking up food bills as an '18-year old in an egg-stained uniform.' She told host Scott Mills: 'I'm going to let you into a secret, I worked at a service station. I worked at Southwaite service station on the M6. 'Everybody in my sixth form used to try and work there part time. If you got the job, you had to do very early shifts. They would pick you up in a mini-bus just to make sure you got there.' From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new Showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. 'They'd take you at about 5am, off down the M6, and disperse you to different parts of the service station. You never knew where you were going to go. 'You could end up on the teapoint - where you stand and just make cups of tea all day, being splashed by scalding liquids, boiling water, all day. 'Or you might be doing the tables. Or you might have to go and work in the shop. You were never on the same thing. 'The worst job? Toting up the food bill at the till in the restaurant, because everybody started kicking off about the price. 'As if you, this 18-year-old girl in an egg-stained uniform, got up that morning and made up the prices - as if I decided how much tea and scones would be. 'People did really kick off. It felt like every single person that came to the till, I would go: 'Four pounds, 95,' and they'd go: 'I've only had a cup of tea…'' In December it was revealed Grace would replace Gregg Wallace as a judge on BBC show MasterChef. It comes after Gregg stepped down from his role in November when a number of historical allegations were made about him. Speaking about her upcoming role on the show, Grace previously said: 'I've been watching MasterChef since I was a girl sitting with my dad on the sofa. 'My whole family watches it. It's all about uncovering and championing talent – and to have ended up in this position, is more than a dream to me. 'I'm so excited that I can't eat, which is severely detrimental to a restaurant critic. 'I feel very lucky to be stepping in for the next Celebrity MasterChef. I can't wait to meet the fresh celebrity faces for 2025.' I'm A Celebrity star Grace has appeared on MasterChef as a guest critic. Not only that, she has also competed as a contestant on MasterChef: Battle Of The Critics. Speaking to Luxury London Living Fabric about her career with food, Grace said: 'When I was a child in Carlisle in the '70s and '80s, we would put on The Good Food Show and we would see Jilly Goolden swooshing wine around her mouth and saying that it tasted like babbling brooks. 'I think that what makes me different as a restaurant critic is that I certainly didn't eat those types of food as a child. 'I didn't have that background. If you look at me and then look at the other restaurant critics, who I love very much, one of us is not like the others! 'I always say that it is an absolute fluke that I am in, doing what I do.' Grace joined BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show host Scott Mills to launch the Under the Bonnet podcast, the UK's first podcast exclusively for van drivers. The new series, recorded in a specially adapted Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van, has been launched to celebrate 30 years of the Sprinter and discuss findings from the Under the Bonnet report - which shows how van drivers have become a barometer for modern Britain.
