Keith Beer to start construction on new Toowoomba service station despite delay caused by council request

A last-minute council request has held back the start of construction on a new service station at a major Toowoomba intersection.

Pearl Energy signage for a new service station on Taylor Street in Newtown, which is being developed by Keith Beer.

Construction will start in a few weeks on a new Toowoomba service station, but the developer says it would’ve already started if not for a last-minute council request.

Keith Beer will finally see workers on-site of his new servo before the end of the month on the corner of Taylor and Tor Streets in Newtown, nearly three years after he first proposed the project.

The refuelling stop is expected to be run by Pearl Energy, which opened its first Toowoomba location last year.

But Mr Beer said he was due to begin construction nearly three weeks ago, before a request from the council’s planning team regarding a detention basin delayed the process.

“We were going to start March 1, at the last moment (council) then came back and wanted the full plans (for the detention basin), which have taken a couple of weeks to sort out,” he said.

It’s just a little requirement that if petrol spills, it’s got to go into this detention basin where it can be filtered and then go into the storm water system.”

Mr Beer said the council had originally allowed him to place a bond on the detention basin, permitting him to submit the plans at a later date.

“It’s important but it could’ve been worked out 12 months ago, it’s the only thing I’m a bit cranky about,” he said.

“They’ve had 12 months to do all this, it’s frustrating and it’s holding everyone back.”

Mr Beer said the lead contractor was NRG Constructions, a subsidiary of FKG Group.