(Photo: An image from the planning application showing a computer-generated illustration of what the new service station will look like.)
An application for a new Applegreen service station was recently approved by Galway County Council. The new service station will be located just off Junction 15 of the M6, east of the Garbally roundabout. It will be one of the largest service station developments in the west of Ireland.
The new station will be located to the north-east of an existing station at Mackney, on the side of the R446. The shop at the Mackney site will remain in situ, but all the fuel-related elements, including the pumps, canopy, sign, and underground storage tanks, will be demolished. (The car wash facility will also cease.) A large, modern petrol station will then be built to the north-east.
The development is substantial, and the new station will offer additional retail space along with two food outlets, one with a drive-thru hatch, a coffee dock, seating area, toilets, and an outdoor play and seating area. There will be parking space for 83 cars, including accessible spaces, and 13 HGV/bus parking spaces, as well as designated parking for motorbikes and cyclists. A new car wash station will be built.
As befits a modern development, the service station will also offer electric vehicle charging points for 36 vehicles, including four HGV charging spaces, making it one of the largest and most advanced charging facilities in the country to service some of the 25,000 vehicles moving east and west each day. A canopy built above the electric charging point will be covered in solar panels. There will also be pumps for existing petro-fuels.
An entrance will be built off the Garbally roundabout to facilitate access. The planning application mentions that the new junction “will also facilitate future access to lands to the north” of the planned site, allowing for the possibility of expansion in the future.
In addition to these developments and supporting infrastructure, new footpaths and a dedicated “active travel” route will be built running along the northern boundary of the site. There will also be outdoor exercise areas. The developers Petrogas Group Limited state that the proposed development: “provides an opportunity to deliver a modern, well-designed and high-quality roadside facility at a strategic location on the M6 motorway network.
“It will replace the existing outdated filling station on the R446 with a purpose-built development that offers a safe, accessible and attractive environment for motorists, professional drivers and the local community.”
The application was granted subject to 15 conditions, including that the developers: employ an archaeologist to monitor construction; commission a road safety audit prior to development and again when the work is completed; submit a Traffic Management Plan to the council, and limit the hours of construction for road safety reasons and for the peace of nearby residents
