Service station giant Welcome Break has announced a proposal to build a new facility on the M25 in Brentwood - less than a mile away from plans from a rival company.

Welcome Break's proposal comes less than two months after Moto finally submitted a plan for a service station to Brentwood Council.

Moto, which is the country’s largest motorway service area provider, unveiled plans in May this year to bring two new service stations to the motorway between junctions 27 and 28.

But Welcome Break has now launched a consultation for a facility stretching both sides of the M25 just north of Muthering Lane, about 0.8 miles away from the planned Moto services.

The site is green belt land, but Welcome Break was defended its intent to build there.

It said: “For motorway services areas there is a need to meet the minimum driving distances, which is 28 miles for cars and, in certain circumstances, just 14 miles for HGVs.

“However, there is no land alongside the M25 that is not green belt to meet that requirement.

"There is a need to find suitable sites away from existing junctions where the benefits of the proposal clearly outweigh the effects on the green belt.

“We believe that the Roding Valley site meets these requirements, providing better safety for drivers on the M25, minimising environmental impacts and improving biodiversity for wildlife."

The Moto service area would be situated near Brentwood on both sides of the motorway and have the capacity for 850 cars and motorbikes along with 450 heavy goods vehicles (HGVs).

Moto has said the service stations would create around 400 new jobs and bring £80 million worth of investment to Essex.

The existing distances on the M25 exceed national policy which states that the maximum distance between motorway services should be 28 miles and, in certain circumstances, 14 miles for HGVs.

There is a 33-mile gap between South Mimms and Thurrock as well as the forthcoming 62-mile gap between South Mimms and Maidstone that will occur once the new Lower Thames Crossing has been developed.

There are 23 miles between junction 28 of the M25 and Birchanger near Stansted Airport and almost 50 miles between junction 28 and Cambridge services on the M11.

Welcome Break says its site comprises of 37.7 hectares of land either side of the M25 divided in two by the motorway, with the larger space to the north east and the smaller space to the south west. A bridge would connect the two.

It wants to propose to provide around 650 parking spaces in the main car park.

There would also be around 20 motorcycle spaces, 20 caravan spaces, and 35 spaces for coaches.

It proposes to provide around 360 HGV parking spaces in total.

Adjoining the smaller space is a further 12.1 hectares of land owned by Welcome Break, which is likely to remain outside the service area boundary but would instead be used to develop a biodiverse habitat.