Quarter Pounders and Big Macs will soon be on the menu in Cromer - plans for a McDonald’s restaurant in the town have been approved.
North Norfolk District Council has given the green light to a proposal for a 140-seat restaurant with a drive-through on the Co-op’s car park off Holt Road, the main route into the town from the west.
The restaurant will employ 30 full-time staff and 35 part-time and become the second McDonald’s in north Norfolk, joining the branch in Hoveton.
The new restaurant will bring the total number of McDonald’s branches in Norfolk up to 20.
The Co-operative Foodstore put in the application, and it is understood the business will run the McDonald’s as a franchise.
The original plan was for the branch to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but revised proposal set the opening time as 5am to midnight Monday to Sunday.
The plans mean the number of parking spots on the site will shrink from 179 to 113, serving both the McDonald’s and the Co-op, with a retaining wall separating both parts of the site.
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There will be a patio with outdoor seating and a play area.
Access will be off Middlebrook Way, and the applicant will have to install a pedestrian crossing point and refuge in the middle of Holt Road, as well as a pedestrian crossing on Middlebrook Way.
There were several objections to the plans from members of the public, including one which raised concerns over traffic and noise. The objector, who lives in Church Street, also said: “Existing local businesses will lose trade to multinationals that will drain the life-blood from our community.”
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But Tim Adams, a town, district and county councillor for Cromer, said he approved of the plans after a number of changes were made, including the removal of totem signs, the retention of trees and a litter strategy being submitted.
He said: “I would like to thank the planning department, as I feel we came a very long way from where we started here, particularly due to the efforts of the case officer, and his colleagues in the landscape and design teams.
McDonald’s were very responsive to our requests for amendments to the original proposals, for which I am also very grateful.
“We originally had significant reservations due to a number of matters that we resolved through redesign.
“There will now be additional tree planting, without the loss of protected trees as originally detailed.
“There will be a £3,000 contribution towards public rights of way improvements, and £14,000 towards litters bins. “There was also a related litter management plan submitted with the amendments, which allayed concerns.
“It is important to remember there are a number of offsite highways and onsite utility works to carry out, so the development will not be constructed immediately, particularly in the current circumstances.”
The application was not ‘called in’ by councillors, and so not discussed at a planning committee meeting, but was instead approved by officers using delegated powers.
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