Plans to build a service station with a restaurant and coffee shop on the site of a former care home look set to get the go-ahead tomorrow.

Euro Garages is seeking permission from Allerdale council to build a filling station, drive-through coffee shop and drive-through restaurant on the site of the former Woodlands care home on the outskirts of Workington.

The development, which is expected to create up to 75 jobs, would be located close to the roundabout at the end of the Distington bypass.

Allerdale council's development panel is set to consider the plans at a meeting on Tuesday.

Workington Town Council, Winscales Parish Council and Copeland Council have all objected to the application.

Concerns raised include road and pedestrian safety, traffic management and congestion, landscape impacts, and the introduction of fast food outlets near schools and colleges.

The parish council says there is already sufficient filling station provision at nearby Lillyhall.

Eight public letters of objection have been submitted to the council, raising concerns about highway danger, traffic congestion and the impact on the Lillyhall filling station.

But planners have recommended the proposals for approval.

They said the proposed site was considered acceptable and "the development is a sustainable, job-creating

proposal".

They said pedestrian safety concerns had been addressed by the planned provision of a pedestrian crossing on the A597.

Planners said the the proposal posed no adverse impact on the landscape or local amenity.

They have recommended the plans for approval subject to a list of 20 proposed conditions.

The suggested conditions include stipulations relating to the planned pedestrian crossing, along with highways and road safety topics.

It is also proposed that the developer should be required to provide a travel plan explaining how it would encourage customers not to use private cars.

The site has been empty since 2015 when Woodlands closed following a Cumbria County Council review of care home provision and services for older people.

The meeting will take place at Allerdale House, Workington, on Tuesday, July 2 at 1pm.