Proposed Ludlow petrol station will have pollution protection
The developer of a proposed petrol station, convenience store and coffee house in Ludlow, has moved to allay fears that the £2.5 million project could present a pollution risk.
Mead House Pension Fund plans to make the petrol filling station one of the safest in the country by installing a state-of-the-art triple protection against any potential pollution risk.
The company is seeking planning permission from Shropshire Council to develop the dilapidated former Burway Abattoir site in Bromfield Road, at the northern entrance to Ludlow.
The developer has worked closely with the statutory authorities over the past 18 months to come up with a sympathetically designed petrol station and ancillary convenience store. The site will have a state-of-the-art triple protection against any potential pollution risk.
Fears have been expressed about the risk of fuel pollution of the Rivers Teme and Corve as well as Ludlow’s Boiling Well, an ancient spring said to have healing powers, should the project go ahead.
However, James Evans, manager of Halls Commercial and spokesman for the developer, said the company was well aware of the environmental sensitivity of the area and proposed extra investment to protect groundwater supplies.
Detailed plans submitted to the Environmental Agency would put in place measures to eliminate the risk of a leak from partially buried fuel storage tanks. Double skin steel storage tanks would be placed within an engineered, impermeable concrete bund below ground level.
In addition to isolating the tanks from the groundwater table, the bund would have a storage capacity 25 per cent in excess of the tanks and any leak would be monitored and alarmed.
“The combination of impermeable concrete bunding combined with double skin steel tanks will effectively provide a triple containment system to protect the groundwater beneath the site,” stressed Mr Evans.
He revealed that the project, which also includes a 3,000 square foot convenience store and conversion of a residential property into a coffee house or restaurant, would create around 30 full and part-time jobs and offer more choice to the people of Ludlow, which currently has only one petrol station.
“The developer purchased this two-acre site around two years ago and has been carefully working on these plans for the past 18 months,” added Mr Evans. “This project will have huge benefits for Ludlow in terms of investment, jobs and the environment.
“Ludlow is currently served by only one petrol filling station and this site is strategically ideally placed to serve the rest of Ludlow and cut down the distance motorists have to travel to fill up their vehicles. I have in depth commercial experience of Ludlow and I believe this development will attract people into the town.
“We are aware of another planning application for an out of town store in Ludlow but the beauty of our project is that it will retain trade within the town and introduce welcome price competition for fuel and convenience shopping.”
He hopes painstaking steps taken by the developer to eliminate pollution risk will encourage the people of Ludlow and town and county councillors to support the exciting project.
