Five years after they were abandoned under a barrage of opposition, plans have been revived for a new motorway services station on the M42 near Solihull.
A similar but smaller scheme stalled in 2009 after it was faced with bitter opposition from residents of nearby village who protested against the greenfield development and claims that it would increase traffic to “dangerous” levels.
The new £65m services — proposed by Extra MSA — would be on land between Junction 5 of the M42 motorway near Solihull and Junction 6, the Birmingham Airport and National Exhibition Centre turnoff. The Lincoln-based company, which operates motorway and prime route service stations across the UK, claims the facility would create 300 permanent jobs.
Extra MSA’s chief executive, Andrew Long, stresses that successive governments recognised the need for services in the area, both in 2001 and 2009. He also says there is a safety “need” for the M42 service area.
“Motorway services are a commercial enterprise, but they also play a significant role in the safety and welfare of road users,” explained Long. “Government policy aims to ensure that there is opportunity to stop and take a break at intervals of no more than 30 minutes or typically around 28 miles.”
“Existing distances between service areas on this part of the Midlands’ motorway network considerably exceed this maximum gap.”
If permission is granted next year, on-site work will take around 12 months to complete, with the services being fully operational by mid-2017.
Coming just days after a Government promise to improve the M42 — among 80 other national road upgrades — the new service area will be the first to be opened in the West Midlands since Hopwood, near Bromsgrove, in 1999 and will be the largest motorway facility of its kind in the region.
According to Sue Manns, from the Pegasus Group of planning consultants, “There is a long standing and established need for a motorway service area at this location on the M42. In many ways it is this motorway’s missing link.
“There is also a social case and an economic case for its construction, both regionally and locally,” she added. “That need was recognised more than two decades ago — and is even greater now as speeds and traffic flow have increased.”
Although village opposition has yet to be mobilised, planners this time claim concerns over increased traffic on local roads will be alleviated through the provision of a new £12m junction to the north designed to provide access to the site.
Extra MSA Group is the fourth largest motorway services operator and the largest investment owner of roadside facilities in Britain. The company was established in 1992 in response to the Government’s deregulation of motorway service areas.
