Signage plans for A14 eastbound Elmswell Services, at junction 47 between Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket, rejected by Mid Suffolk District Council due to amenity and safety concerns

Plans for signs at a new A14 service station between two towns have been refused on the basis of amenity and public safety concerns.

Mid Suffolk District Council rejected the application from EG On The Move for advertisement consent at its soon-to-open Elmswell Services, off the eastbound carriageway at junction 47 between Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket.

The station will have a Starbucks, Spar convenience store and petrol station, and an as-yet unknown drive-through outlet.

An EG On The Move spokesperson said the company will work with planners to remedy the concerns raised and is looking forward to creating local employment.

The proposals concerned the construction of inside and outside illuminated signage.

Documents submitted with the application detailed plans to set up a 12 metre multi-brand totem facing the A14.

This would have been accompanied by a similar totem by its entrance off the A1088 which would display fuel prices.

Planners said while the advertisements would provide some economic benefit to the applicant’s business, this was not considered to outweigh the harm they would cause to visual amenity.

They added, overall, it was considered the proposed signs would make a significant negative difference to the existing character of the area within the setting of Elmswell and Woolpit.

An officer report said the application site directly affected the setting of three listed buildings – The Church of St John, in Elmswell, The Church of St Mary, in Woolpit, and Crossways, a Grade I-listed medieval farmhouse.

Both Woolpit and Elmswell Parish Councils objected to the plans.

The former said the signs were disproportionately large and ugly and intrusive, while the latter said the signage would impose a suburban result in a rural location.