Keighley will get a second McDonalds branch after plans for a new drive thru in the town centre were approved.
Proposals to build the new branch at Gresley Road as part of the redevelopment of the former Alexandra Mills site were approved late last week by planning officers.
It means the fast food giant will join Aldi and the soon to open Nando's on the town centre site.
The new branch is expected to create around 60 jobs, and planners said the restaurant will have a “welcome” impact on the local economy.
An application for the full redevelopment of the long empty Alexandra Mills site was approved several years ago – and the proposals included a drive thru café.
Initial artists’ impressions of the site hinted it would be a branch of Canadian café Tim Hortons moving onto the site. But last year McDonalds submitted a full planning application for a 310 square metre restaurant on the site.
The town already has a McDonalds branch on Hard Ings Road, but the new application said:
“Given its location on the A650 northern bypass, that restaurant primarily serves the residents of the communities to the north of Keighley (including Beechcliffe and Utley) as well as transient custom.
“McDonald’s analysis identifies that the settlement of Keighley contains a population of 53,000. This level of population is identified by McDonald’s as being sufficient to support two restaurants that are capable of trading well.”
In stark contrast to a recent application for a McDonalds drive thru in Bingley, which attracted over 500 objections, the plans for this new Keighley branch have proved far less controversial, with just four people raising objections.
Approving the plans, officers said:
“In terms of economic benefits, it is envisaged that 60 fulltime equivalent jobs would be created on site once the restaurant is opened in addition to those during the construction phase.
“The redeveloped site would bring about an anticipated uplift in business rates revenue and the proposal therefore would have a positive benefit to the local economy
“The impact the development will have on the local economy is welcomed.”
The Council’s Clean Air team had raised concerns about the drive thru element of the plans.
They said:
“We would like to see the full business case to justify the need for a drive thru facility at the proposed restaurant in this air quality sensitive locality.
“The restaurant proposal appears to have access to ample parking provision to allow customers to park up and use the restaurant with no obvious need to provide additional drive thru facilities.
“The drive-thru will be a source of additional unnecessary exhaust emissions that could be mitigated against by removing the drive-thru from the design.”
But planners replied:
“Permission for a very similar proposal exists on the site and the proposal here would not present any additional air quality issues in excess of the extant approval.”
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