PLANS for a controversial motorway service station have been given the go-ahead by Stroud District Council.

Protesters and supporters of the Westmorland and Gloucestershire Gateway project, which has promised to create up to 300 new jobs, both demonstrated outside the council chamber before members took their decision.

The planning application was the “most controversial” to come before the authority’s development control committee in the past 10 years, said its chairman Councillor Graham Littleton (Con, Hardwicke), who backed the idea.

Councillors voted by six votes to four to approve the scheme.

Altogether, more than 70 acres of land, on either side of the M5 at Onger’s Farm in Brookthorpe, will now be transformed into petrol stations, cafes, and car and lorry parks by 2013, Westmorland’s delighted chief executive Sarah Dunning said immediately after the meeting.

“I think we have understood from the beginning that there were sensitivities around these proposals,” said Ms Dunning, who was among about 40 members of the public who listened to the debate.

The two-and-a-half hours of discussions were also relayed to a screen in an overflow room so that a further 30 or so interested parties could also follow proceedings.

Mark Gale, for the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust, was also pleased.

“I think it is going to bring great employment opportunities and great opportunities for the voluntary and community sector,” Mr Gale said. But upset objectors vowed to put pressure on the Government Office of the South West to “call in” the consent so a second look can be taken at the decision.

“There is a two-week period now before the permission is granted. It is quite possible it will be called in,” said Eric Hibbert, from the Campaign Against the Motorway Service Area (Camsa) and also chairman of Brookthorpe with Whaddon Parish Council.

“We will also see if those with the funds might request a judicial review. This isn’t over yet,” Mr Hibbert said.

Chairman of Harescombe Parish Council Brian Stanley said he was also very disappointed.

“It was the way the council handled it. I shall be asking for an investigation,” Mr Stanley said.

Camsa had mustered a 1,089-name petition against the service area, which was handed to the council.

There were also nearly 500 letters of objection and around 400 in favour of the services before the committee. Onger’s Farm is right on the edge of the Stroud area, on its borders with Gloucester City, and the services provoked strong feelings in both districts.

Planning officer John Longmuir advised the Stroud councillors

that any damage to the rural landscape had to be balanced against the need for the services to fill a long stretch without refreshment areas on the M5.

Ward councillor Keith Pearson (Con, Upton-St-Leonards) said the need for the services was “tenuous in the extreme” in a beautiful rural landscape. But Councillor John Jones (Con, Severn) said the need for the services had been established by the Highways Agency.

“Service stations both to the north and south of this site are very much over-subscribed in the summer months,” Mr Jones said.

Westmorland is the family business which runs award-winning Tebay Services in Cumbria, where there are no franchises but instead the food is homemade and sourced from local farms and producers.

The firm has said it will model Brookthorpe on the Tebay design.