By Michael Baws

THE stage is set for a new series of battles over the future of Foldgate Lane.

Officers at South Shropshire District Council have recommended a go-ahead for the plan by Shrewsbury-based Bennett Developments to build a petrol filling station and a convenience store close to the Sheet roundabout on the A49.

The matter goes to the council's development control committee on Wednesday when protestors will launch a last-ditch attempt to save a hedgerow and two protected trees at the entrance to the site.

Even if they fail, battle will resume in March when a public inquiry opens into an earlier plan, which was turned down earlier this year.

An appeal is also pending on a second application, which failed in August.

The latest application is the third by Bennett. Instead of the original proposal for a 40,000 sq ft red warehouse, the filling station and convenience store in Foldgate III will cover a combined 4,000 sq ft. A restaurant and service yard will take up 7,894 sq ft.

The development is for only one third of the original 6.6 acres, but some protestors are concerned about what may happen on the rest of the site.

One of 15 letters of objections to the council warns that the proposal is "just the foot in the door that Bennett Developments need to gain access to the fields further down the lane. This I feel being the ultimate objective of the exercise."

Another letter writer, from Foldgate Lane, says the amended application "does not disguise the fact that further expansion of the site can be made at any time in the future".

Trees will be another emotive issue. Gareth Thomas from Temeside said his main objection was "the removal of hedgerows and trees, all protected by law against destruction, on account of their rich botanical status and their antiquity as the boundary of the ancient Sheet estate".

However council officials said they negotiated changes "so that only 20% of the hedgerow and two trees were lost, with the rest of Foldgate Lane and its hedgerows remaining intact".

The prospect of a new petrol station could swing opinion in the other direction.

A writer from Coreley said, "I am fed up with waiting in line to fill up for petrol at Ludford and waiting in line to go home."

Even some of the objectors want an alternative way of filling up in Ludlow.