Gwynedd council has approved plans to build a lorry fuelling facility at Parc Bryn Cegin, Bangor – however, no permanent jobs will be created.

 

 

The facility will allow haulage and delivery vehicles to be fuelled with Bio-CNG, which has significant environmental benefits, through reducing a vehicles CO2, NOx and noise emissions, when compared to diesel fuelled vehicles. It is also more sustainable being 100% renewable as regulated by the Governments Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO).

The fuelling facility will be supplied with gas and electricity from the mains supply, which will be operated and regulated by the relevant statutory undertakers. The site itself will be operated by CNG Fuels, who will be responsible for drawing the gas out of the mains network and compressing it for onsite storage in small amounts within above ground modules. The gas will then be dispensed into vehicles via dedicated fuelling islands.

The site will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It will be unmanned, monitored remotely by CCTV and restricted to use by CNG Ltd customers only. Pre-registered drivers only will be able to activate the pumps by fob automation.

The planning application from CNG Fuels Ltd, would take on plot C1 on the park, although the bad news is that this will not create direct work on the site once the facility is completed.

A planning statement said: “This application proposes a new Bio-CNG gas fuelling station that will provide important refuelling infrastructure for local logistics and distribution operators, allowing the opportunity to convert their vehicle fleets from diesel to Bio-CNG powered vehicles.

“The development will allow existing local business and those due to locate at Parc Bryn Cegin in the near future, the opportunity to invest in Bio-CNG powered vehicles instead of diesel and benefit from the 100% renewable fuel with significant reductions in CO2, NOx and noise emissions over diesel engine vehicles

“Typically, Bio-CNG refuelling stations are connected to a nearby gas distribution pipeline. Gas is drawn out of the pipeline via on-site compressors. Once compressed, the gas is stored in ground storage modules ready to be dispensed into adapted vehicles.”

Parc Bryn Cegin

The Parc Bryn Cegin site was built in 2000 and despite several promises of development, it has remained empty for over twenty years. More than £11m has been spent on the site but no businesses have ever been located there.

Liberty Properties Developments Ltd were chosen by the Welsh Government in 2015 to create a multi-screen cinema and restaurant scheme, but while a cinema operator has been secured, the developers have been unable to attract enough restaurants to make the scheme viable.

More recently plans for a £14m cheese plant didn’t materialise. A 187 space ‘Park and Share’ car park was completed at the site this year, originally planned for a shuttle bus service for the now shelved Wylfa Newydd nuclear site on Anglesey, but has remained unused since its completion.

Photos:

(1) Parc Bryn Cegin Bangor

(2) Aerial image of application site (shown with red outline) within wider context of Parc Bryn Cegin (shown with yellow outline).

(3) Existing CNG Fuels Station (Warrington)