Guard our Green Belt
Say no to Moto on our stretch of the M25.
We want to preserve the open countryside and prevent urban sprawl in the Green Belt, especially around the northeast corner of the M25. So we want to stop Moto and Welcome Break opening their proposed motorway service stations on the M25 between Havering and Brentwood.
The scale of it
Moto’s plan in numbers
166,843 m²
of concrete: buildings, forecourts and parking, by our measurement
600+
houses would fit on the same land, where policy allows not one
1,300
parking spaces: up to 850 for cars and 450 for lorries
169
public comments on the application at Brentwood Borough Council
Two proposals, one narrow gap
There are now two separate proposals for new service stations on the M25 between junction 28 and the M11. This is where Moto wants to put two new service stations.
We oppose these developments because they undermine the success of the Green Belt in preventing London’s outward sprawl, which relies on open countryside as a buffer between Havering and Brentwood.
The M25 sits within one of the narrowest strategic Green Belt gaps, which has been protected for the last 40 years for good reason. These extensive developments would extend beyond the motorway, causing a return to the outward sprawl of London that the Green Belt has effectively controlled for the past 70 years.
Random, competing applications are not the right way to address something so crucial.
One site on each side of the motorway
Moto wants both carriageways: a service area on the anticlockwise side at Noak Hill, and another on the clockwise side at Navestock.
Take action
How to object
Moto’s application is still waiting for a decision, so every objection still counts. It takes about ten minutes.
Find the application
It’s reference 24/00874/OUT on Brentwood Borough Council’s planning website: “Land at Priors Golf Course and Hill Farm”, Navestock.
Write it in your own words
Planning grounds carry the most weight: it is inappropriate development in the Green Belt, it destroys the openness of the land, and there are no “very special circumstances”. Effects on you count too: lights, noise, traffic on the lanes.
Send it, then tell us
Comment on the application page (you’ll need to register first), then let us know at support@m25nomoremsas.org so we can keep count.
The Moto and Welcome Break applications
Moto has applied for planning permission which, if granted, will allow it to build a service station on each side of the M25, in Navestock and Noak Hill. Welcome Break has said it will submit an application for another motorway service station, a few miles north.
The proposed service stations are enormous. We measured the concrete footprint of Moto’s buildings, forecourts and parking areas at 166,843 square metres (43 acres). You could fit more than 600 houses on that land: it is the size of Brentwood Town Centre or Brent Cross.
And yet, planning policy here prohibits even a single house from being built.
Planning policy here prohibits even a single house from being built.
Timeline
Where things stand
2024
Moto applies
Moto submits an outline application for a service station on each side of the M25, at Navestock and Noak Hill (24/00874/OUT).
Late 2024
Welcome Break plans a rival site
Welcome Break says it will apply for another service station a few miles north. Its consultation event for 30 November 2024 is cancelled.
January 2025
The association responds
We send the council a consolidated objection. Julia Lopez MP asks the Secretary of State to call the application in if the council is minded to approve it.
May 2025
The council validates the application
Brentwood Borough Council formally validates Moto’s application after further documents.
Now
Waiting for a decision
The application is still pending. If the two schemes compete, a public inquiry may have to decide between them.
Living next door
Other concerns
Our main appeal to Brentwood Council and the Secretary of State is that these schemes destroy the Green Belt’s purpose here. But living next to them would bring its own harm.
Narrow rural lanes
Access roads that were never built for staff and servicing traffic.
Light all night
Floodlit forecourts and car parks, around the clock, where today it is dark.
Noise and pollution
More engines idling and more lorries parked up beside homes.
Wildlife
Farmland, hedgerows and a former golf course lost to concrete.
Years of building work
The nightmare of the construction process itself.
A busier M25
More slip roads and filtering on one of the busiest stretches, just after it was widened.
How services break the Green Belt rules
Motorway service stations are, by definition, inappropriate development in the Green Belt, causing substantial harm. The sheer scale of these developments conflicts with the core purpose of the Green Belt, which is to keep land open.
Moto and Welcome Break claim to have “very special circumstances”, but their arguments do not hold up.
- They argue that their service stations do not create urban sprawl, but with a footprint equivalent to 600 houses, this claim is implausible.
- Moto’s application only measures the buildings’ footprint. Including parking and forecourts, the true extent of the concrete is 16.6 hectares, ten times larger than what they claim.
- Moto argues that it’s acceptable because the stations will resemble the motorway. But a four-lane motorway is not a natural feature of the countryside, and adding more concrete only makes it worse.
- Both suggest services should be every 28 miles. The stations here would be 31 and 33 miles apart, with other alternatives in between. That is not a reason to abandon the longest-standing planning policy we have.
This is also one of the busiest sections of the M25. Why add more slip roads and more filtering to slow it down again, just after spending huge sums on widening it?
What’s needed is proper strategic planning instead of this chaotic free-for-all. There are viable solutions that wouldn’t compromise the Green Belt; they just require some thought and planning.
The Green Belt gap
Post-war London expanded eastwards along the A12 and northeast towards Harold Hill and Noak Hill. This growth was halted by the Green Belt 70 years ago.
The M25 was built within the gap that the Green Belt preserved as open countryside, on the understanding that development alongside the motorway would be restricted. The gap between the urban edge and the M25 here is less than a mile.
The proposed service stations would put large urban developments into this gap and beyond the motorway. That is precisely what the Green Belt was established to prevent.
The sites today
All the land along this part of the M25 is open green space. The proposed Moto sites include a farm and a former golf course.
Get these applications refused
And plan properly for the needs instead: in ways that work with the Green Belt, not against it.
Who are we?
We are residents living on either side of this stretch of the M25. These planning applications came unexpectedly, and we decided to voice our objections.
If you share our concerns, join us.
Our members
Where our members live
Members come from both sides of the M25, not just the houses next to the sites. If you live two or five miles away, this affects you too.
Our member count, and where members live, will show here once more people have joined. Be one of them.
Latest news
News and updates
What the association has been doing, and where the applications stand.
Our letter to the council’s planning officer
Read moreRead the letter we sent to Brentwood Borough Council’s planning officer about Moto’s application.
118 objections and counting
The council had received 125 comments on Moto’s application, 118 of them objections. We sent a consolidated response, Julia Lopez MP asked the Secretary of State to call the application in, and our membership passed 100.
Welcome Break consultation cancelled
The consultation event Welcome Break had planned for 30 November 2024 was cancelled.
Join us
Join the M25 (Northeast) Residents’ Association
Become a member to receive updates on the campaign’s work and invitations to our meetings.
If you are signing up several people in your household, please give each person their own email address or phone number, so they are added as separate members. The more individual members we have, the stronger our voice.
Show your support
Put up a sign
Signs show Moto, Welcome Break and the Planning Committee how many of us care. Correx board signs are £5 each. Ask for one here and we’ll arrange it with you.
Your voices
Voices from our villages
Photos of the signs along Horseman Side, Goatswood Lane, Church Road, Noak Hill Road and Chequers Road, and a few words from neighbours. Send yours to support@m25nomoremsas.org.
Coming soon
Documents and links
- Our letter to the council’s planning officer, August 2025 (PDF)
- The Rules of the M25 (Northeast) Residents’ Association
- Moto proposal overview (currently unavailable)
- Welcome Break proposal overview (PDF)
- Cancelled: Welcome Break consultation, 30 November 2024