Developer To Drive Filling Station Project After Winning Appeal And Costs Award

A developer is poised to press on with plans for a new filling station and shop in East Yorkshire after winning an appeal against refusal by the local planning authority.

Lovel Capital Projects, part of Lovel Property Holdings Ltd, was also awarded costs against East Riding of Yorkshire Council after a planning Inspector found the Council behaved unreasonably in dealing with the application.

Lovel Capital Projects is now moving forward with an operator for the site in Killingwoldgraves Lane on the outskirts of Beverley and is hoping to start work early in the new year.

Philip Lovel, Managing Director of Lovel Capital Projects, said: “We are delighted that the planning Inspector has found in our favour after the unexpected refusal of the detail of our plans for the project.

“The whole process has resulted in unnecessary delays to the scheme but we are working hard to make up time and deliver a development which will bring significant benefits to the local area and the people who live there.”

Lovel initially secured planning permission in July 2020 to transform the brownfield site at the former home of Teckno Developments, a wallpaper and fabric pattern books manufacturer which was destroyed by fire in 2009.

Mr Lovel then began discussions with parties interested in operating the petrol station and convenience store and the adjacent development of four business units, ranging from 1,600 sq ft to 11,500 sq ft, on a site of 4.2 acres at the Killingwoldgraves roundabout on the A1079 at Beverley.

However a subsequent application in November 2020 seeking approval of details of the project was turned down by East Riding of Yorkshire Council planning committee in April 2021, prompting Lovel Capital Projects to appeal.

The Inspector has now reported that the issue at the centre of the refusal – the effect of the proposed development on the character and appearance of the area and its landscape – was not valid.

He found that the height of the building, the retention of hedgerows and the planting of new hedgerows and other shrubbery ensures the development “would not materially harm the character and appearance of the area and its landscape”.

The Inspector also said he was satisfied that the development would not have a harmful visual impact on the setting of a nearby Grade II listed dwelling, and he rejected concerns that the proposed shop would affect businesses in Walkington, Bishop Burton and Cherry Burton.

He reported that the new shop “would not be large enough to undermine the vitality and viability of these local village shops” and he noted that the Council did not raise concerns about the shops in its reason for refusal or its appeal statement.

In making the award for East Riding of Yorkshire Council to pay the full costs of the appeal the inspector agreed that the Council had failed to produce any “reasonable and proper evidence to substantiate its reason for refusal” and that members of the planning committee did not visit the site before making their decision to act against advice from the planning officers to approve the application.

He concluded: “The Council left the appellant with no option other than to lodge the appeal.

“I, therefore, conclude that substantive unreasonable behaviour resulting in unnecessary or wasted expense has been demonstrated and that an award of costs is justified.”