The last remaining petrol station in Botley is to be demolished. The BP station in Seacourt Retail Centre is to be taken down as part of the next phase of improvements there. It was covered in a recent Oxford Times story.

A planning application is in consultation with the public. You can see the details and leave a comment for the planning officers on the Vale’s planning register. The deadline for comments is 11 Jun 2015. A decision is expected by 11 Aug 15.

There have been (at least) two previous applications approved (2011, 2013) that included demolition of the petrol station. At the time of each of those, there was some objection by local people to the closure of the BP station. The probem is that once this station is closed, our nearest opportunities to fill our tanks are at Peartree, Heyford Hill, or in Oxpens Road in Oxford (near the rail station). That’s quite a few miles to drive, and quite a contribution to the extant congestion and pollution. In two of those options, you need to navigate the A34. That’s one of the most congested roads in the country. If you are heading south, you travel through the Botley AQMA, with its illegal levels of air pollution. Or, you must travel into town on the bumper-to-bumper Botley Rd. When something goes wrong there, it can take an hour or more to get to the petrol station in Oxpens Rd and back.

The main problem is that loss of a petrol station is not a material planning consideration. It’s not a planning decision; it’s a business decision, between the landowners and the owners or operators of the petrol station.

Planning policy gives some protection to pubs as a community asset, but apparently none to the last petrol station in the area. That seems short sighted to me, especially in this age of environmental legistaltion in all kinds of areas. I think the policy needs to be changed. But I’m unaware that any policy body is looking at this. (I had thought to see if we Lib Dems could do something about changing this policy. But we lost the election.)

In the years since we’ve been aware of the plan to remove the petrol station, no organised community activism has come to light to try to save it, that I’m aware of. I think now it’s too late and this is a done deal. I’d love to be wrong.