CONCERNS over plans for a new £30 million motorway service station on the M5 between junctions 12 and 11a were raised by Edge residents at a Painswick Parish Council meeting on Wednesday, July 21.

Villager Michael Buckland-Smith told parish councillors the proposed facility would increase traffic on the A4173, which runs through Edge.

He said vehicles were likely to use the route during the station's construction and that suppliers of produce, which could be sold at the facility's proposed farm shop, would increase traffic.

Mr Buckland-Smith also said the proposal would seriously degrade 66 acres of designated Special Landscape Area land near Brookthorpe.

"The proposal would also run counter to national and regional Government policies on sustainable development in rural areas," he said. "It is also unacceptable to site a service station so close to the settlements of Brookthorpe and Waddon."

Painswick Parish Council agreed to object to the application. The Gloucester Gateway Trust has applied to build the new service area on land near Ongers Farm, Upton Lane.

Its initial application, in September last year, brought in more than 1,000 comments from the public.

The final decision rests with Stroud District Council's development control committee at Ebley Mill on Tuesday, August 10.