Members of Gillingham Town Council’s planning committee have voted against plans for what is styled as an ‘eco-friendly’ self-service car jet wash in the centre of the town.

The move at a meeting on Monday evening followed strong objections from local residents over the new business venture on vacant land behind the current Pets at Home and Iceland stores in the Harwood Retail Centre off Station Road.

In their application the company behind the plans, Smart Auto Spa, say: ‘The proposed development is an eco-friendly, self-service car jet wash facility, with 4 x closed wash bays and 1 x vacuum station with electric vehicle charging point.’

It adds: ‘The design is striking, modern but functional and every impact has been appropriately considered during the design phase to minimise any negative impacts or amenity issues. This is a scheme that will benefit both the local and wider community and at the same time will be an example of how to defeat the illegalities in the car wash sector, such as modern-day slavery, planning violations, tax avoidance / money laundering, health & safety, environmental negligence and damage.

‘This proposal seeks to develop a site that is currently underutilised. The proposed development will make a contribution to Gillingham’s economy and a welcomed add-on to the Harwood retail park.’

However, the plans for the jet wash, which will be open from 7am to 10pm all year round, have dismayed local residents, particularly those living on nearby Newbury.

The residents attending Monday’s planning meeting at the town hall listed a number of objections including concern over noise and light pollution, access to the site, the lack of need of another car wash in the town, the inappropriate ‘industrial-style’ nature of the business, its lack of keeping with the town centre’s needs and its potential impact on wildlife.

One nearby resident said the current site would be taken over by ‘constant activity, concrete surfacing and very high levels of noise and pollution which will be projected directly into the houses and gardens of long-standing Gillingham residents’.

Another said: ‘This proposal for a large commercial jet wash immediately behind a row of Victorian homes feels completely tone deaf to the values of this town and the people who call it home.’

Gillingham mayor Councillor Fiona Cullen, a member of the committee, expressed concerns about the nature of the proposed business on the site. ‘Anything that’s going to go there needs to fit in with the hours the opening hours of the other businesses that are there,’ she told fellow councillors.

The mayor also said the business would not create local jobs, as it would be ‘unmanned’, though the company itself says it will provide some work, including ‘four part-time [employees] for site maintenance and cleaning services….[and] part-time employment for person responsible for deliveries, off-loading and filling up cleaning’.

Councillor Cullen concluded: ‘I just think it’s an inappropriate type of business to be sited so close to residential areas.’

The committee members voted to recommend refusal of the application, which will now go to the planning authority Dorset Council for their decision.