A major High Court dispute is under way over plans to provide five new motorway services areas on the M25 and a further service area on the M4. If successful, the claim could mark the beginning of a major escalation in the provision of such facilities on and around the M25.
The sites under scrutiny in the present case are at Downside, Runnymede, Woodlands Park and Elk Meadows, Iver, and Chalfont on the M25, and Maidenhead on the M4.
Part of the current action centres on challenges to the refusal of consent for the proposed new service areas. Among other things, it is being argued that in some of the decisions reached so far, there have been breaches of the rules and of natural justice, and that sufficient reasons have not been given for them.
The cases involved in the current case are the tip of a much larger iceberg. The court has been told that various developers are currently looking at the possibility of providing new service areas on the M25 and on motorways radiating from it.
It was submitted that the Environment Secretary has in the last few years considered, or will soon consider, proposals for two new service areas on the M40, three on the M4 and one on the M1; all within 15 miles of the M25. Five further applications for services areas on the M25 itself have also been made.
The hearing continues.
PLS News 23/6/00
