A 24-HOUR drive-through restaurant and petrol station is set to be developed on the edge of Chepstow, close to the Severn Bridge. 

Though no details of which fast food chain will be based on the site, on fields next to an existing industrial estate, there is speculation it will be occupied by fried chicken firm KFC. 

A planning application has been submitted to Monmouthshire County Council by retail firm EG Group, which specialises in petrol stations and forecourts. On its website the firm states it works with brands including KFC as well as Subway and coffee chain Starbucks while its own brands are LEON, Cooplands, Go Fresh, and Cumberland Farms. 

The application also includes a coffee shop as well as a proposed warehouse to be built on fields that currently seperate the Newhouse Farm Industrial Estate from junction two of the M48, westbound.

Its claimed the drive-through and road side services could create as many as 75 jobs, including 60 full time posts, while the warehouse, which could be used for distribution or retail, would be big enough to support 200 jobs according to the application. 

If planning permission is approved EG Group will buy the site, which it desribes as “an ideal opportunity for a roadside facility to serve passing motorists”, and operate the retail outlets while a tenant will be sought for the warehouse. 

Monmouthshire Council’s rights of way officer has issued a holding objection and called for more information on how pedestrians would access the site, with proposed access currently via a tunnel underneath the roundabout. 

Assistant rights of way officer Gavin Pugh said: “I am very concerned that pedestrians will not follow this route and will look to shorten it by cutting across the Newhouse Roundabout over the M48.” 

The Welsh Government has also said too little information has been provided to satisfy its concerns about the impact on the highway network on the key route linking Wales and England. 

It says it is concerned as a transport assessment has shown traffic could queue back past the access into the proposed development, preventing right turns and cause “stacking of southbound vehicles towards the roundabout”. 

Concerns over pedestrian access are shared by Chepstow Town Council which was given a presentation on the application, though the name of the restaurant wasn’t confirmed. 

Mayor Margaret Griffiths said: “Because it is across from the Thornwell Estate we want to make sure there is a lit, safe route. In the past there have been too many developments were footpaths haven’t been considered. A fast food restaurant is the sort of place young people will want to go to.” 

The council’s suggestion that the plans should be approved is also dependent on an increase in the number of electric charging points provided. The application says the car park will have 75 bays with 10 per cent of them being EV charging points or disabled spaces. 

Cllr Griffiths said: “The company say they will respond to demand, rather than the other way around, but we think they shoud put them in and to think of the future.” 

Cllr Armand Watts, county councillor for Bulwark and Thornwell, said he welcomed the potential development: “I know people who drive over the Severn Bridge to get a burger, a Coke and some fries so this will meet their needs.” 

In its application EG Group says the site is close to bus stops and it will hold further discussions with the county council on pedestrian routes that could improve access to Chepstow without using the roundabout. It also says as it expects most users will be drivers on the trunk road and its facilities will not have a “detrimental impact” on Chepstow town centre. 

EG Group declined to comment to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.