Council orders immediate closure of A14 Elmswell Services over planning breaches

The site, just off the A14 at Kiln Lane, opened just before Christmas and includes a service station, Spar convenience store, Greggs and Starbucks.

Mid Suffolk’s planning committee previously refused the plans for the site – saying the design and layout, in particular the exit, would have a “severe and detrimental impact on highway safety”.

That decision was overturned on appeal by the Planning Inspectorate, subject to a number of conditions to address the concerns. 

These had to be met before the site opened – however, that did not happen, and this afternoon Mid Suffolk District Council served a Breach of Condition Notice on site owner, EG On The Move Ltd.

All businesses on the site must cease operation immediately until the conditions are met.

Cllr Andrew Stringer, Mid Suffolk’s cabinet member for heritage, planning and infrastructure, said:

“We do not take this action lightly and recognise the impact it will have on the businesses, but we have a duty to uphold planning laws which are there to protect our residents.

“The safety of the local community, including customers and staff at the site, will always come first.

“It is simply unacceptable that important safety work, set out clearly by the Planning Inspectorate, has not happened ahead of opening.”

When refusing the application, the council raised serious concerns that the site’s layout would result in conflicts between vehicles exiting onto the A1088 and those using the existing A14 slip roads.

A Breach of Condition Notice has now been served because works on the access and exit points – as set out in the Planning Inspectorate’s conditions of approval - were not carried out before opening. 

If the notice is not complied with within three months, Mid Suffolk District Council can prosecute the site owners.

The council also served an Enforcement Notice because there was not an approved Construction Management Plan and Construction Surface Water Management Plan in place before work started.

The Planning Inspectorate had said this was “so fundamental to the development that it would have been otherwise necessary to refuse permission”.