Gloucester services
| Gloucester Services | |
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 Gloucester Services (Gloucestershire)
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| Information | |
| County: | Gloucestershire |
| Road: | M5 motorway |
| Coordinates: | 51°49′05″N 2°13′30″W / 51.818°N 2.225°WCoordinates: 51°49′05″N 2°13′30″W / 51.818°N 2.225°W |
| Operator: | Westmorland Motorway Services Ltd |
| Date opened: | 7 May 2014 (northbound) 19 May 2015 (southbound) |
| Website: | www |
| Northbound services | |
| Fuel: | Texaco |
| Southbound services | |
| Fuel: | Esso |
Gloucester Services is a pair of Motorway Service Areas (MSA) serving the northbound and southbound carriageways of the M5 between Junction 11A and Junction 12, near Whaddon, Gloucester. It specialises in selling artisanal food, and does not offer outlets for popular chain food brands.
Construction of the northbound services began in early 2013, and they officially opened on 7 May 2014. Construction of the southbound services commenced in March 2014 and they opened on 19 May 2015.
In September 2009, the independent motorway services operator Westmorland Motorway Services Ltd, jointly with a local charitable trust, Gloucestershire Gateway Trust, submitted plans for a service area at Matson for public consultation. The plans were for a business operated in a similar manner to Tebay Services on the M6 in Cumbria, with much of the food and produce on sale being sourced from local suppliers.
The operator promised not to host chain coffee shops, fast-food outlets, or video and gambling machines.
The service area supports the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust in assisting the business to provide good jobs for more deprived areas of Gloucester, and to support local social regeneration schemes.
Arguments both in support of and opposition to the scheme were made, citing Highways Agency and Department for Transport guidance.
A 2008 DfT circular advised a maximum 28-mile (45 km) distance or 30 minute drive time, whichever is the lesser, between services on the motorway network. In early 2009, the Highways Agency conducted a review of motorway services in England, guided by this circular, identifying gaps in provision of core motorway service areas. A shortcoming of provision for traffic traversing the Welsh-English border between the M50 terminus and Michaelwood Services was identified.
A distance of 40 miles (64 km) or greater would be a gap between MSAs above which the Highways Agency would consider informing a local authority of the potential need for a new MSA to be included in the Local Development Framework.
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