The future of an isolated petrol station which once played a key role in the capture of a multiple murderer is hanging in the balance.
Businessman Thomas Brooke’s application for consent to continue using the North Road Garage site, off the A19 between York and Easingwold, as a petrol station and delicatessen shop will be considered by councillors on Thursday, following a lengthy planning battle which has reached the High Court.
The site has been used as a petrol station since 1957 and it remains the only one on a 20-mile stretch of trunk road between York and just south of Thirsk.
The garage became the focal point of an eight-day nationwide manhunt involving 500 police officers in 2004 after the elderly owner recognised customer Mark Hobson, who police wished to question about four horrific deaths.
A report to Hambleton District Council’s planning commitee states Mr Brooke is seeking planning consent after it had emerged a proposal to change the use of the site, which the authority approved in 2013, had inaccurate boundary lines, meaning conditions for the operation of the site could not be fully complied with.
After the council approved a further application in 2021 to enable the preparation of food for sale from the premises, neighbour Robin Wilson, who owns a building beside the fuel station, challenged the decision and planning permission was quashed at the High Court due to “an incorrect red line”.
In its response to the latest plans, Shipton-by-Beningbrough Parish Council has highlighted how cars entering and exiting the site were “a cause of frequent accidents on the A19”.
While it said the proposed entrance and exit system was “a positive step” to try to mitigate danger, the parish council remained concerned proposed signs to highlight the entrances would block visibility further for cars exiting the forecourt onto the A19.
In nine letters of objection to the council Mr Wilson said the entrance to his site was regularly congested and obstructed by customers of, and deliveries to, the garage and shop.
He added the site’s petroleum licence often prevented full use of his premises as it had to be temporarily closed during tanker refuelling operations.
However, neither North Yorkshire County Council highways engineers or National Highways have objected to the proposal.
They said improvement works linked to the scheme should improve the site’s operation and minimise the impact on the A19.
Recommending the scheme be approved, the officer’s report states the North Road Garage development is “only considered acceptable as an exception to the control of retail uses outside defined centres on the basis that Shipton does not have a village store”.
Officers said its economic benefits can be “afforded reasonable weight” as the operation of the development generates full-time jobs and be likely to generate spin off employment, with the applicant indicating there would be the creation of two new full time staff jobs.
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