Plans for two drive-thrus and a petrol station in Beverley could damage pasture land, say councillors

Beverley councillors have spoken against plans for the restaurants, petrol station, industrial units and a 190 space car park off Swinemoor Lane roundabout.

Plans for complex, submitted to East Riding Council in November, are thought to some of the biggest development proposed in the town since the Morton Lane Tesco built in 2002.

Developer EG Group stated in its submissions it could create up to 164 new jobs and that assessments had failed to find alternative suitable sites.

They added the decline of independent petrol stations in recent years meant on site fast food restaurants were among the only ways to make such projects viable.

But Liberal Democrat Coun David Boyton said going ahead with the plans could block any future expansion of Beverley Community Hospital by removing the only land left to build on.

Coun Boynton said: “The hospital’s got a high turnover of patients and NHS trusts are looking at larger sites to move services into. The hospital’s very well used not just by Beverley residents but patients across East Yorkshire, they use Swinemoor Lane to get there as ambulances do.

“This development is on one of four main roads into the town centre, we’re already seeing quite regularly that if there’s an accident on one of those roads, Swinemoor Lane gets more congested. Drive thrus and a petrol station could make that worse.”

Coun Linda Johnson said building the development on the edge of Swinemoor Pasture was “sacrilege” and its petrol station contradicted a recent recommendation for the council to declare a climate emergency.

The Liberal Democrat said: “The pasture’s unique among the three that are managed in Beverley. Concreting the edge of it could cause drainage problems, the River Hull went has just gone over near Tickton and that’s part of the pasture.

“I think building the sort of development that usually goes by a motorway there would be sacrilege, it’s in the wrong place. Beverley will have seven filling stations if this goes ahead if you include two that are already underway.

“The development as a whole would generate an incredible amount of traffic, the constant hum will disturb residents, it’s going to be a 24 hour operation.

“And it seems like a contradiction when the council’s review panel has just recommended declaring a climate emergency, we should be cutting down on fossil fuels and using our cars less.”

Conservative Coun Paul Nickerson, of Minster and Woodmansey ward, said he was against any building on greenfield sites not earmarked for development in the council’s Local Plan.

Coun Nickerson said: “I think we can live without it, it would create new jobs but we could get those from investments elsewhere. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if it was built but I oppose developing unallocated greenfield sites so I can’t support this.

“The land would be better used to expand NHS services, currently if you live in Beverley and need dialysis treatment you have to go to Leeds, that can be an ordeal for people and mean a day off work. It’s high time we had more local healthcare facilities near the hospital.”

Opposition Liberal Democrat leader Coun Denis Healy, also of St Marys ward, said some residents living near to the site feared it could become “an American style strip mall”.

Coun Healy said: “We’ve written to about 700 homes near to the site and we’ve had about 100 responses back so far. A lot of concerns were raised around it operating 24 hours a day, there’s also concerns about ambulances trying to get to the hospital from Hull and elsewhere.

“It’s not often that a planning application galvanises public opinion but we’ve seen a groundswell of feeling over this.”

The plans are set to be discussed at a planning committee meeting at a date yet to be fixed.