Limerick petrol station in dispute over all-night opening

A DISPUTE between the council and the owners of a petrol station over whether the business can trade through the night has gone up a gear.

Limerick City and County Council planners have ordered the operators of Circle K in Caherdavin to no longer trade around-the-clock.

But a spokesperson for Circle K has said the firm will be appealing this decision to An Bord Pleanala and it will operate its “normal opening hours” until a verdict comes from the planning appeals body.

Up to now, the petrol station and shop on the northside has been open 24-hours-a-day.

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The local authority issued an enforcement letter to the operator last year, requesting that it cease to operate through the night-time, because it did not have planning permission to open 24-hours.

An enforcement notice is a letter which sets out a requirement to rectify a planning issue and details a timeframe by which this must be done.

Off the back of this, Ard Services, which operates Circle K’s stores in Ireland, formally sought planning permission to seek to continue its opening times of 24-hours-a-day.

Agents representing the firm wrote in a submission that allowing day-and-night opening “will help ensure the viability of the business" and provide a service to local customers, residents, plus shift workers.”

“The extension of hours provides additional employment in the area through increased hours for staff working in the service station with flexible shifts for staff working through an extended period of 24 hours,” they added, also pointing to a number of rival petrol stations open around-the-clock in the city.

Circle K's agents cited a survey completed in August last, which showed under 7% of its customers visited the petrol station between midnight and 7am.

However, there were four submissions to council opposing the continued 24-hour opening of the facility.

Among other things, these highlighted the impact it has on the quality of life for local residents in terms of lights operations, noise and volumes of traffic.

They also highlighted that there are other 24-hour petrol stations available nearby and that the passing trade at night is “minimal”.

Three parties writing to the council over the project had addresses in the vicinity of the petrol station. One submission came from a person with an address in County Dublin.

In its decision, council stated keeping the petrol station open all day and night would “seriously injure the residential amenities and depreciate the value of properties in the vicinity due to noise, light overspill, traffic and general disturbance particularly during night time hours.”