New development at Southside has prompted Esso Bermuda to ask for planning permission to build a new gas station on Kindley Field Road.

The new station will be on an unused patch of land directly opposite to the Bermuda Biological Station on the approach to the Swing Bridge on St. David's Island.

The station will be parallel and adjacent to the western end of the regularly used runway.

When contacted this week, Esso general manager Ed Edelson confirmed the "in-principle'' application had been made.

He also explained that any fears about having the depot near an active runway had been quelled after experts had been consulted.

"Yes, we've been discussing this for a year and we had discussed it with our technical officers who said it was not unusual to have a station around an airport,'' Mr. Edelson.

"It's pretty common and we don't see that it is a particular problem,'' he added. "The tanks will be underground and even in the worst case scenario the product is isolated.'' Mr. Edelson explained that there had been extensive communication with both the managers of Southside, the Bermuda Land Development Corporation and with the Department of Airport Operations.

"It's something that planning have asked for, certainly. But as you would expect, fuel at an airport is very common,'' he added with a laugh. "It's something that we are aware of but it is not a major problem.

"The St. George's station will remain viable and profitable for that dealer,'' he continued. "We are not taking away any business from him. The rationale for this are the very exciting plans, both business and residential, for Southside.

"We decided that we had better be prepared for growth and the BLDC agree that a modern service station would be an asset to Southside. We're not building for today's volume but we're building and investing for the future.'' Mr. Edelson added: "Esso is demonstrating that we are optimistic about Bermuda and we are here to stay.''