Plans to demolish a bungalow and build an electric vehicle charging centre near Hatfield have been refused.

The proposal, made by Motor Fuel Group, would have seen a bungalow and car wash off Bell Bar's Woodside Lane and the Great North Road knocked down, to make way for an EV charging hub, with a canopy, three jet wash bays, sub-station enclosure, plant room.

"The aspiration of Motor Fuel Group is to provide access to convenient and affordable charging, regardless of where the driver lives," the application read.

"The Bell Bar Service Station, located on the Great North Road provides an excellent location to provide these new and essential facilities."

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council refused the application on September 27, citing the lack of a noise assessment and concerns over parking.

"A noise assessment has not been undertaken and submitted for consideration," the decision notice reads.

"The Local Planning Authority is unable to determine whether the impact of the proposed development, including an electric vehicle charging zone, jet wash units and air, water and vacuum unit as new noise sources, would have a detrimental impact on the residential amenity of neighbouring buildings or properties.

"The submitted application does not include any information about existing on-site car and cycle parking space provision.

"During visits to the application site, the areas identified for the proposed seven new car parking bays were generally occupied by parked cars and more cars were parked around the site and in Woodside Lane.

"It has not been demonstrated that the proposed seven new car parking bays would provide adequate on-site car parking for the proposed development and no provision appears to be made for cycle storage parking spaces."