A decision by Warrnambool City Council to grant a permit for the business at the intersection of Laverock Road and Raglan Parade came after two years of trying by the applicant, Darren Noseda, who first applied to put a retail outlet on the site adjacent to his fuel service station.

The unanimous vote by councillors on Monday night followed an on-site meeting with the applicant and nearby residents who had objected on the grounds of noise, water overspray and traffic.

Four A4 pages of strict conditions were attached to the approval.

However, Laverock Road residents are still protesting about the planned exit from the carwash onto their street, predicting it will lead to more crashes, particularly during the morning and afternoon peak hours.

"It's already a nightmare and can take 15 minutes just to get out of our driveways when the traffic is bumper-to-bumper between the traffic lights and roundabout," said Robert Grills whose property is closest to the carwash site.

"This is a road safety black spot in the making.

"The exit is right by a power pole, so anyone exiting the carwash with a long vehicle or trailer will have to go over the Laverock Road white line just to turn left. We are not opposing the business, just the exit. It should have been onto the service road."

Others residents, including Shaun and Maree Cashion and Chris O'Brien, also said they had difficulty exiting their properties into the busy traffic flow.

"People see the traffic lights changing as they are driving down Laverock Road and race to beat them. If another car was to pull out of the exit the results could quite easily be fatal," Mr O'Brien said.

VicRoads told the council the exit had to be onto Laverock Road and not the service road.