A Bath petrol station could be knocked down to make way for new student accommodation.
Plans to demolish the Radway petrol station, at Odd Down, and build a block of student flats have been submitted to Bath and North East Somerset Council.
The applicant property developer Jasper Becker, from Legend Strategy Enterprises, is arguing that the site is not suitable for a petrol station because the small forecourt means queuing cars back up onto the busy main road.
He says that it was for this reason that permission was granted last year for a residential scheme on the site, and this new application is simply an extension of that.
However, the loss of another petrol station could be a blow for motorists, who already suffer from a lack of places to fill up their cars.
Radway remains open but if it went, it would leave just four petrol stations in the main part of the city.
The Wellsway scheme's design and access statement, drawn up by Mr Becker's agent Rob Lucas, from David Brain Partnership, says the purpose-built student accommodation would prevent development on the green-belt and ease the strain on the buy-to-let market.
It says: "This new application seeks to respond to the demand of student housing within the outskirts of the city.
"Residential areas such as Oldfield Park have become saturated with the student demographic. Traditional family homes have been changed to HMOs (houses in multiple occupation) in favour of the rental markets to students, serving the local universities, resulting in the family demographic being pushed out and communities lost."
The application is for a block of six "cluster" flats, each with a number of en-suite bedrooms and a communal kitchen and living area.
It would house around 35 people and the applicant says that car parking spaces are not necessary because of the good bus links with both universities and the city centre.
Mike Clarkson, deputy chairman of the Bath Conservative Association, urged the council to reject the plans because of the impact on motorists trying to buy petrol in the city.
He said: "This proposal would reduce the number of petrol stations in Bath to only four, many times less per head of population than in surrounding towns such as Frome and Chippenham.
"It will strengthen the near-monopoly of Sainsburys and Esso who are free to set prices 3 to 4p per litre higher than in neighbouring communities.
"We need more, not less competition between fuel suppliers to drive down prices, so the council should reject this proposal and instead encourage supermarkets such as Tesco and Morrisons to provide additional petrol stations in Bath."
Councillor Nigel Roberts (Lib Dem, Odd Down) is also concerned about the plans, mainly because of traffic issues and whether the site is big enough to accommodate so many flats.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
