We are expecting plans for a patrol station and store on the corner of Bromfield Road and Coronation Avenue to be approved at the April meeting of the South Planning Committee. One of the concerns of the committee was opening hours, with some members feeling it should not be open 24 hours.
The people who responded to my online poll largely disagree.
There are disadvantages to 24 hour opening. The main disadvantage will be to immediate neighbours who might be disturbed by vehicle noise or alcohol fuelled revelry, particularly at Meadow View. Those who need a loaf of bread, pint of milk or medication in the early hours will find 24 opening a convenience. Whether there is a business case for non-stop opening is a matter for the store.
Light pollution shouldn’t be too much of a problem. The forecourt lights will be dimmed overnight and will brighten when cars drive on the forecourt.
There is probably a case for 24 hour or extended sales of fuel. Not many people are around at 3am in the morning (I know this as a frequent insomniac). But people are out and about at 5am, going off to work or on holiday.
Some people are concerned about 24 hour serving of alcohol. I haven’t heard that there are plans for that but the store is within walking distance of the main pubs. Revellers might see it as a venue for a drunken top up. Alcohol sales hours are controlled by licence as well as by planning permission. My view is that midnight would be a good time to stop selling alcohol.
Personally, I think 24 hour opening for the petrol station and store, with a midnight to 7am restriction on alcohol sales, is right for this site.
Your vote
Three-quarters of you agree that the petrol station should be open 24 hours (336 people voted). You are less keen on the convenience store being open 24 hours, with just short of two in three voting in favour.
I’ll be passing on these results to the South Planning Committee.
New Poll: should Ludlow police station close?
Police and Crime Commissioner Bill Longmore has said that more police stations in West Mercia will close. Ludlow police station is used as a police base but it is not open for public callers. Should it close altogether, should it reopen or should it relocate to the town centre?
Let me know your views in my latest poll.
Another destructive development about to be approved; what an awful prospect for people living nearby. Another carbuncle on the face our beautiful town. If people need to shop twenty four hours a day then perhaps they should not choose to live in Ludlow – perhaps somewhere on one of the trunk roads where there is an all-night garage
Shame on you Andy Boddington..
Is this the same joyce brand who said we need 50 more Andy Boddingtons on the council? Strange.
Thanks Joyce
We are not a retirement town. Neither have we retired from the modern world. Many people have to work long, often anti-social hours and need to squeeze shopping in when they can. People should not have to leave town to get a modern job and live a modern life.
The main objection to this proposal is the site itself, especially as there is an already Petrol Station polluted site available behind Myriad Organics, which with traffic light control would not have caused any bigger congestion than the current traffic light set-up,and it is not quite so critically near the Corve. There is still unnecessary risk to the pure water supply of Boiling Well and the revised plan does not sufficiently address that in my humble opinion.
And by the way Barry, Andy is an excellent local councillor but not always infallibly right.
Thanks Marilyn
I am completely fallible!
The Corve Street site has planning permission for houses which have not been built at least in part because of the costs of cleaning up contamination. It is unlikely that a garage would get permission now because it is too close to the Station Drive junction.
Personally, I thought the old SSG site on Lower Galdeford would have been ideal but we tend to permit developments these days rather than plan anything.