Anger over new burger chain plan
By Jo Deeks on Monday, 26th June 2000.
RESIDENTS in Haverhill are furious burger giant McDonald's has put in a new planning application for a site near their homes.
Last year the chain applied to St Edmundsbury Borough Council for permission to build a 75-seater restaurant off Park Road, next to the Great Mills store.
Residents of Hawthorn Road and Florsham Close collected a petition against the plan, saying it was the wrong place for the restaurant. It was refused by planners, as the site is zoned as a landscape barrier between the retail park and nearby iousing, but McDonald's has since lodged an appeal.
Now the company has submitted a new application for the same site. Joseph Shardelow, of Hawthorn Road, is one of those protesting about the plan and says when he bought his house in the mid-1980s the area was zoned for housing.
"What part of the word No don't McDonald's understand? People don't want them here, but they are insisting on coming. They have been offered other sites in Ehringshausen Way and the High Street, but turned them down."
"What concerns me is the constant watering down of planning constraints. At first there was to be no access on to Park Road, then they wheedled their way around that. They are just waiting for the council to buckle under financial pressure, which I'm sure they will at the end of the day. We will end up with them building factories up here one day."
"This restaurant would be about a burger's width away from my front door, so my garden would be full of rubbish. The boy racer fraternity can't wait for it to open so they can use the car park." "They don't care about people like us without any money, they only care about people with a big bank balance", Mr Shardelow said.
Chris Rand, St Edmundsbury Borough Council's planning officer, said the new application received was essentially the same as the last one. A public inquiry is due to take place in September into the appeal against the earlier plan. Mr Rand said it was unlikely that the planning committee would consider the new application before August and he could not comment on what his recommendation was likely to be.
Last year the chain applied to St Edmundsbury Borough Council for permission to build a 75-seater restaurant off Park Road, next to the Great Mills store.
Residents of Hawthorn Road and Florsham Close collected a petition against the plan, saying it was the wrong place for the restaurant. It was refused by planners, as the site is zoned as a landscape barrier between the retail park and nearby iousing, but McDonald's has since lodged an appeal.
Now the company has submitted a new application for the same site. Joseph Shardelow, of Hawthorn Road, is one of those protesting about the plan and says when he bought his house in the mid-1980s the area was zoned for housing.
"What part of the word No don't McDonald's understand? People don't want them here, but they are insisting on coming. They have been offered other sites in Ehringshausen Way and the High Street, but turned them down."
"What concerns me is the constant watering down of planning constraints. At first there was to be no access on to Park Road, then they wheedled their way around that. They are just waiting for the council to buckle under financial pressure, which I'm sure they will at the end of the day. We will end up with them building factories up here one day."
"This restaurant would be about a burger's width away from my front door, so my garden would be full of rubbish. The boy racer fraternity can't wait for it to open so they can use the car park." "They don't care about people like us without any money, they only care about people with a big bank balance", Mr Shardelow said.
Chris Rand, St Edmundsbury Borough Council's planning officer, said the new application received was essentially the same as the last one. A public inquiry is due to take place in September into the appeal against the earlier plan. Mr Rand said it was unlikely that the planning committee would consider the new application before August and he could not comment on what his recommendation was likely to be.
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