PLANS to demolish Botley’s only petrol station in favour two shops and a food outlet are set to be approved tomorrow.

Original plans to get rid of the Seacourt Retail Park station were approved in 2013 along with proposals to split the exisiting Homebase DIY store unit into five smaller units.

Now the developers, British Airways Pension Fund, want to amend plans by putting seven small units there and building a separate retaurant to its east - where the petrol station is sited.

It is not yet known if Homesbase will take on any of the new units.

Vale of White Horse District Council said that the petrol station’s closure was not a planning decision but a commercial one.

If BP want to close the filling station – which has seen large queues since the closure of the Esso petrol station in Oxpens – it was up to them, not a matter for the local authority.

A Vale planning officer has backed the plans for smaller shops and a restaurant, despite a covenant dating back to the 1980s banning the sale of food or drink on the site.

Shaun Wells recommended that councillors approve the application. In his report he said: “The site is an established retail park with an economic role – contributing to building a strong, responsive and competitive economy.

“It also provides a social role – supporting a vibrant and healthy community, and by creating a high quality built environment, with accessible local services that reflect the community’s needs.”

An independent retail assessment found that smaller shops and restaurants would not take business away from the new West Way shopping centre.

Botley councillor Debby Hallett said the only way to save the petrol station would be for the community to urge the landowner to change its mind.

But the Vale Lib Dem leader said she was happy with the new shops and restaurants.

She explained: “I had raised concerns about the prohibition of food sales but the assessment has satisfied me.

“Food and drink offerings will appeal to office and business workers on a lunch break from the south side of Botley Road, and there are a lot of them.”

New plans for the West Way shopping centre, which sits across the road from Seacourt Retail Park, are expected to be put forward by the end of the year.

County councillor for North Hinksey Janet Godden said in hindsight a “masterplan” for both sites should have been created.

She said: “Replicating on the Seacourt site the range of shops that residents want on the West Way site seem absurd . I would think it churlish to turn it down.”

The planning committee meeting will take place at The Ridgeway in Wantage at 6.30pm tomorrow.