Applegreen gets go-ahead for M3 service area in Meath

Applegreen has secured planning permission to construct a service area and an Electrical Vehicle (EV) charging hub off the M3 motorway in Co Meath.

Meath County Council granted permission to Applegreen for the scheme comprising 36 EV charging stations, fuel pumps, a shop, and two food outlets including a drive-through with seating for 166 customers on a site near Junction 6 on the M3 motorway near Dunshaughlin. Permission was granted despite an objection from rival operator Circle K.

In the decision, the council attached 26 conditions to the grant of planning permission.

The decision means Applegreen owner Petrogas Group has added to the 194 Applegreen service areas it operates nationally, including nine motorway outlets.

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Petrogas’s planning consultant in the case, Declan Brassil and Company, told the council during the application process that “due to its limited scale and offering, and its location remote from the town centre, the proposed development will not undermine the retailing role and function of Dunshaughlin”.

Mr Brassil also pointed out that service area policy said that a service area should be provided on the M3 between Junction 4 and 7 or Dublin and Kells.

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He told the council that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) commenced consultation in respect of an M3 service area but there has been no progress since August 2017, which has left the M3 without necessary services.

Applegreen was previously refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanála for a service area at the location and Mr Brassil said that the new scheme is reduced and the reasons for refusal for the previous application have been addressed in the new plan.

However, planning consultants for Circle K, Coakley O’Neill Town Planning, argued that the application should have been refused. Circle K now has the option of appealing the council decision to An Bord Pleanála.