A LOCAL company has been denied planning permission to build a new petrol station in Littleport. East Cambridgeshire District Council s planning committee turned down the application from James Graven and Sons, but the company s Ely-based owner, Jonathan

A LOCAL company has been denied planning permission to build a new petrol station in Littleport.

East Cambridgeshire District Council's planning committee turned down the application from James Graven and Sons, but the company's Ely-based owner, Jonathan James, says he isn't giving up.

He said: "It's quite upsetting. I had worked with the district council's planning officers and hoped all the issues had been resolved. It's back to the drawing board now. I've yet to decide whether I'm going to appeal or put in a new application, but I'm not going to give up."

The company had hoped to build the petrol station on land west of 150 Wisbech Road and had the backing of Littleport Parish Council.

But the district council received 36 letters from people living nearby concerned about excessive noise, drainage issues, highway safety, petrol fumes, loss of property value, impact on Littleport's commercial centre and a potential increase in rats.

The council's planning authority had recommended refusal, pointing out there is no shortage of petrol stations in the area and two nearby had recently closed.

It was also pointed out the site is on an open field and the development would remove an attractive rural edge to Littleport.

Mr James said: "The stations that closed were in the wrong locations and didn't have the facilities needed to survive. I've dealt with noise concerns; we planned to put up a barrier wall around the station, but I feel environmental health officers overlooked that.

"Littleport and East Cambridgeshire are growing very quickly and I firmly believe there is a need for a new petrol station. We built a station in Ely on the A10/A142 six years ago. It was once an empty field and now it's one of the busiest service stations in the UK."

He added: "We've been an Ely-based company since 1860 and we need to expand to survive. We want to expand within our East Cambridgeshire home but unfortunately, in this case, the council had other ideas.