A THREE-YEAR-OLD plan to build a new service station on one of North Yorkshire’s main routes has been resurrected by developers.

Enita Europe have put in a planning application for a ‘signed Trunk Road Service Area’ next to the Hopgrove roundabout by the A64 on the edge of York.

Plans show it would consist of a petrol station, a 50 bedroom hotel and a restaurant/ cafe, with parking and landscaping - the same as a 2014 scheme that was criticised by planners and then withdrawn by Enita.

The planning application says a new service station is needed on “a key transport route in the North of England”.

In 2014 planners said the plans were inappropriate within the Green Belt and would bring “unacceptable harm” to the area. They raised fears about the impact on people living nearby, saying there would be at a high risk of flooding, wildlife would be harmed and a sewage treatment plant could leak and infect the water table.

In the application, the developers say their plans benefit local transport infrastructure, which is permitted within the Green Belt. There is currently a 40-mile gap between service stations on the A64, they add, and no other suitable sites.

They also say noise, light pollution and harm to wildlife would be minor but there would be economic benefits.