The BP station in Finchley Road

SMALLER petrol stations face going out of business as drivers switch to electric cars or look to avoid pollution penalties, retail analysis handed to the Town Hall has predicted.

And – while there will be few laments from environmentalists – one of the next closures is set to be a BP filling station on the Finchley Road.

Camden has been asked by landowners Sectorsure to grant permission for demolition on the site next to the North Star pub. It then plans to build a six-storey homes development with shops on the ground floor.

Improved space for the neighbouring private school, UCS Prep, will also be provided in the scheme.

The paperwork – published on the council’s website – includes a general assessment of how filling stations in London are expected to struggle to survive in the coming years and reports that the fuel pumps at this site have seen almost 25 per cent fewer sales since 2015.

Alastair Coates, from Alexander James, said in his viability report prepared for the developers in Finchley Road that petrol stations faced a tough road ahead, particularly if they could not expand shop space to sell products other than petrol.

“Independent and oil company forecourts have long been innovating to make up for lower fuel sales and profitability, in particular when faced with significant competitive challenges on fuel margins from the major supermarkets in the past,” he said.

“They have done so by significantly expanding and evolving the non-fuel retail offer on their sites. However, the fact is that a large amount of urban and suburban filling stations were built in the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, on relatively small plots with relatively small shop buildings.”

He said that some petrol stations in London had become unviable and were already being redeveloped for alternative uses.

How the new development will look

The New Journal’s sister newspaper, the Westminster Extra, reported on how no operators could be planned for a site off the Edgware Road. In that case, the Marylebone Society suggested that the pumps could be replaced by a rank of chargers for electric vehicles.

In Finchley Road, planners have only received one objection to the proposed development on the basis that drivers will struggle to find somewhere to fill up. The nearest alternative petrol station its estimated to be a mile away.

Mr Coates added: “As possibly indicated by the subject site’s sales volume trend, London is expected to see a swifter decline in demand for traditional fuels.

“It is leading the way for the country, as it inevitably does, on the uptake of electric vehicles (EVs) with the ULEZ [Ultra Low Emission Zone] and other incentives encouraging the transition. Indeed, the proposed expansion of the ULEZ zone from August 2023 can only serve to encourage a faster shift to EVs.”

After declaring a climate emergency, Camden Council has repeatedly urged its residents to only drive when absolutely necessary and to consider other forms of transport. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has faced legal threats from some outer London boroughs against his decision to expand ULEZ – which comes with a £12.50 charge for vehicles considered to be high polluters and begins on August 29.