Owners of the Big Leisure car wash have warned of the loss of a local service and jobs if the council doesn’t let it move across Bracknell Leisure Centre car park.

The car wash has been in the car park for some 20 years – and is currently located towards the back. But car wash owners say plans to build padel tennis courts in a patch of grass next to the car park mean they will have to move.

Yet Bracknell Forest Council has already refused planning permission to relocate the car wash to a corner of the car park near the entrance and next to Bagshot Road.

Planning officers said the scale, position and ‘poor layout’ would be ‘overly prominent’ at the new location, and could also reduce parking spaces.

READ MORE: why it's getting harder to find a parking space in Bracknell

Now car wash owners have reapplied for planning permission. In a statement, consultancy ET Planning argued that the car park is ‘an appropriate and obvious location for a car wash'.

It said: “The car wash has been on the site for over 20 years, and is clearly signed on the site’s entrance, confirming its compatibility with the leisure centre car park.”

The statement added that, as it is near commercial buildings such as the leisure centre, a KFC a petrol station, and a Kwik Fit garage, it is not ‘out of keeping’ with the area. And it said that even at peak times, Bracknell Leisure Centre’s car park has ‘ample’ free spaces.

The statement added that if the car wash couldn’t stay in the car park, it could mean the loss of a local facility and jobs. The new application is pending a decision by council planning officers.