New plans for Midway Service Station
another planninng application to build a petrol station at the Midway Hotel at the Togher Interchange has been lodged with Laois County Council.
If the Midway Group are successful with their application, the station which would include a retail shop and off-licence, 6 petrol pumps, carawash, valet facilities and four car parking space, would be operated by Topaz.
Access to the service station will be through the existing entrance and exit and the station will have no frontage on the public road. No facilities will be provided at the proposed services station for lorries, and the developers propose to erect collapsible bollards to deter lorry drivers from parking along the edge of the road and walking to the service station, which the application said had been accepted by the road design office in Laois County Council.
There are no opening hours stated on the planning application, but Midway say this will be dependant on the operator.
In a letter to Topaz, Pat McCann the CEO of the Midway Management Company said the lack of a petrol station was often commented on by guests of the hotel.
“The availability or lack of availability of a petrol station at the complex is often commented upon by guests of the hotel. Given the mix of lodgings, restaurant and leisure facilities at the site I believe a petrol retail outlet would be the ideal complement to the existing product offering,” he wrote.
The planning file also contains a letter written by Topaz’s retail director, Frank Gleeson to the Midway Management company where he states that Topaz are “very excited at the prospect of operating a state of the art petro-convenience Service Station at the Midway Complex.”
Mr Gleeson says that Portlaoise is a town of “key importance” to Topaz.
A previous application by the Midway Development Company for a petrol station in 2008 was refused by Laois County Council. This decision was upheld by An Bord Pleanala.
A submission in support of the application by Dublin based planning consultant, Jim Brogan, said that the new planning application estsablished that objections raised to the previous planning applications were no longer applicable.
The council are due to make a decision on the service station before the end of August.
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Monday 21 May 2012
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