A luxurious service station featuring a farm shop and 20 holiday cabins will be built next to the A1 in Northumberland. Councillors have approved plans for a major roadside development close to the A1 in Stannington, south of Morpeth.
The project features a café and farm shop selling some of the county’s famed local produce, a children’s playground, electric vehicle charging points, and the collection of wooden holiday lodges. Members of Northumberland County Council’s planning committee unanimously granted permission for the scheme at a meeting this Tuesday, where the project was likened to the popular Gloucester service station which is the sister business to the Tebay famshop on the M6 in Cumbria.
Striking designs showcase a large, curving main building proposed for the Green Belt land, north-west of the existing petrol filling station on Station Road. The site was previously used as a petrol filling station, but that has since been demolished and it has been derelict for several years.
Plans lodged with the council by Ethical Planning and the GH Group describe the new scheme as a “true tourist and leisure attraction at the gateway to Northumberland and the route further north”. Their application adds: “It will be a much-needed stopping off point directly off the A1 north-south route providing electric vehicle EV charging, a farm shop specialising in fabulous local and regional products, and a farm shop café serving local produce and home-made Northumberland food specialities.
“In addition, there will be 20 characterful wooden cabins set amongst, and in-between the trees to the southern end of the site which will provide overnight stopping-off whilst exploring Northumberland or for those enroute further north. There will be space in addition for three mobile homes to park up amongst the cabins and wooded areas and to hook up to an electric supply and water.”
Conservative councillor Richard Dodd said he welcomed the development adding: “This site has been derelict for a long, long time and something needs to happen.” Our planning consultant Peter Gillan said the attraction would bring “significant economic, social and environmental benefits to the local area and Northumberland more widely”, including a much-needed increase in EV charging infrastructure.