AN out of town petrol filling station, a drive-thru Costa coffee shop, an electric vehicle charging hub, and a convenience store are being planned for Minehead.

An application for a ‘roadside service station’ has been submitted to Somerset Council on a 1.7-acre site off the Ellicombe roundabout, between the A39 and Ellicombe Lane.

It came from filling station forecourt developer Forelle Estates Ltd, of Poole, Dorset, which is known to work with oil company Shell and regularly partners with Budgens and Subway to put stores on its sites.

Thirty-five jobs would be created, 10 of them full-time, with the plans including a 3,817 sq ft retail store and a 1,825 sq ft Costa.

A plan of a proposed Minehead roadside service station. IMAGE: Frowsbury Design.
A plan of a proposed Minehead roadside service station. IMAGE: Frowsbury Design. ( )

Joshua Reid, of planning consultancy Alder King, said Forelle looked at the site in January, 2022, when it sought pre-application advice from the then-Somerset West and Taunton Council (SWT).

Mr Reid said SWT took a year to respond, by which time it had been absorbed into the new unitary authority, with the planning officers expressing concern at the ‘substantial’ size of the retail store and that it would be an ‘out of centre’ development.

However, officers supported the concept of electric vehicle charging (EV) and said they would ‘look positively’ at a charging station development.

Mr Reid said there was a lack of roadside services along the A39 between the M5 at Bridgwater and Minehead, with the only fuel facilities being a small Esso forecourt in Williton.

He said the A39 through Somerset and North Devon was a key route which currently had ‘woefully inadequate charging facilities’.

Mr Reid said: “It is anticipated as the take up of electric vehicles accelerates in the coming years, the demand for petrol and diesel will drop to a level where this part of the development can be removed and replaced with more EV charging points to meet demand.

“Both the EV/fuel and coffee shop facilities are aimed at motorists using the adjacent A39 as well as residents of Minehead and the surrounding settlements.

“The EV charging infrastructure in Minehead is currently limited, with facilities restricted to mostly lower voltage charging points located in less convenient locations.

“The application proposal, therefore, aims to provide much needed fast-charging facilities in a strategic location on the edge of Minehead, easily accessible to residents and visitors alike.

“In a town where tourism is one of the biggest economies, the proposal will offer tourists a convenient place to charge their EV as they are arriving or departing from their visit.”

Mr Reid said 10 EV bays would initially be provided, six of them fast charging, but up to 21 could be accommodated in future as demand rose.

More could be installed if and when the petrol and diesel fuel pumps were no longer required ‘to serve legacy internal combustion engine cars’.

Mr Reid said the site could not be said to be in ‘open countryside’ because of its ‘very close proximity’ to the edge of Minehead, and trees and hedgerow almost entirely screened views from Exmoor National Park.