The revised plans Adelaide’s ADS Architects have rendered for OTR’s planned petrol station.

REVISED plans for a locally loathed petrol station on Angove Street haven’t convinced the “Stop the Station” community group to drop their campaign.

Nearby residents and Angove Street cafe strip users are chiefly concerned about the negative health effects of petrol emissions being so close to homes and alfresco areas (Voice, November 19, 2022).

Vincent council is moving to ban new petrol stations from town centres, but the application by South Australia-based petroleum company On the Run slipped in before the rules take effect.

The changed plans include a one-metre setback from the rear laneway to move the station slightly further away from homes, and a few other small changes. OTR has also added an “Emissions Impact Assessment”, after  its first application was criticised for glossing over health concerns.

The report says the station will be able to keep pollution emissions like benzene at a safe level by using an advanced “vapour recovery” system at the bowsers that stops fuel leaking when customers are filling their tanks. 

Vapour recovery

In WA, it’s mandatory to have vapour recovery systems for underground petrol storage tanks, but systems at the bowsers are optional. 

The report doesn’t make clear whether the station would use the system at the bowser, instead just saying they could “potentially” be installed.

Co-convener of the Stop the Station group, Don Barba, says of the revised plans: “The major issues haven’t been addressed.

“There’s still going to be an effect on the locals… the businesses, the houses there.

“The other major thing we’re concerned about is they’re going to use the laneway as an ingress/egress [point], and that laneway is 20 metres from the school.

“The area is not in fitting with the concept of a service station… it will destroy the current feel, that ambience, of that North Perth strip.”

The re-submitted plans are open for comment until April 6, and then the state government’s Joint Development Assessment Panel gets to decide whether the station is allowed.

by DAVID BELL