SUPERMARKET giant Asda has submitted plans to open a new petrol station at its store near Junction One in Antrim.
The application to Antrim & Newtownabbey Borough Council will outline designs for a six-pump petrol filling station adjacent to its superstore, which has been open for nearly eight years.
Junction One retail park, which was bought over last year by the Banbridge-based Lotus Group and real estate management firm Tristan Capital Partners, is situated a few hundred yards from the proposed site of the new petrol station.
That deal was part of a £40m package which also saw The Outlet in Banbridge being purchased.
The developers have pledged to give Junction One a £30 million makeover, a plan which has caught Asda’s attention, according to the company's senior communications manager Alan Jones.
"Our application for a new petrol station is ideally timed as Junction One, the neighbouring retail park, will soon seek approval for a major redevelopment," he said.
"Our plans perfectly complement this exciting masterplan for the retail park. Asda is committed to doing everything it can to offer the lowest possible fuel prices at all of its filling stations across Northern Ireland."
There is competition in the immediate area, however, as Maxol already operates a petrol station in conjunction with a Centra store less than 300 yards away from the Asda location.
The Maxol petrol station and Centra store have been operating less than a year, when they moved into the vacant site after another filling station close its doors some months previously.
Asda entered the Northern Ireland market in 2005 and now has 17 stores across the north, with a total of 10 petrol stations.
