Revised plans for a new drive-thru McDonald's as part of a massive new service station right next to the A30 have been unveiled.
It is almost three years since the fast food giant first had hoped to open as part of a scheme that would also see a roadside service and petrol station built for the site at Straightway Head Junction, next to the Daisymount roundabout, just outside Ottery St Mary.
But after an initial deferral, councillors back in June 2020 rejected the scheme due to the unacceptable and significant harm it would cause.
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Nearly 18 months later though, fresh plans for the site that aim to address the concerns have been submitted – and this time with actual CGI drawings after committee members slammed the images produced in 2020.
The scheme sees the reduction in height of the McDonald’s building from double to single storey, inclusion of Living Green Walls to the McDonald’s building to further soften its appearance, and the enlargement of application boundary to allow inclusion of significantly more landscaping and biodiversity net gain.
These improvements provide significantly more screening to the southern boundary of the site and along the A30 frontage, the application says, adding: “They greatly enhance the scheme and directly address the previous reasons for refusal.”
In the supporting statement with the planning application, developers add: “The need for an service station on this stretch of the A30 has been recognised and accepted by Highways England.
“The scheme provides a diverse range of services, including fuel, electric charging, a shop, toilets, food and drink and suitable rest areas and the site is ideally located as it is easily accessible from both directions of the A30 and is located centrally between Exeter and Honiton.
“Following the previous planning refusal, the scheme has been thoroughly reviewed and amended to address the previous points of concern to vastly improve the proposal. This includes an enhanced landscape scheme which incorporates increased boundary planting, the overall reduction in height and scale of the McDonald’s building and the inclusion of green ‘living’ walls and the provision of enhanced sustainable measures, such as solar panels to the petrol filling station roof.”
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It adds: “The proposal will provide significant inward investment to the local area, providing at least 95 jobs for local people. The proposed scheme has been assessed through the supporting technical reports and has been found to be acceptable in each field of expertise.”
When the scheme, which also included a petrol filling station with five pumps, a forecourt shop/sales building comprising a sales area, a hot food and coffee outlet, and a 103 space car park, was debated by East Devon District Council’s planning committee last summer, officers had recommended that the plans be given the go ahead, but councillors voted by nine votes to six to reject the plans.
Councillors agreed that it would have a detrimental impact on the rural environment, and would attract people from a wide area and would therefore increase traffic on the roads and urbanise the rural area.
Officers had recommended the previous scheme be approved as they felt the scheme was acceptable in terms of its visual impact on the landscape, albeit recognising that from close range the proposal will be highly visible.
Planning permission for a much larger service station that also included a hotel has previously been granted and technically implemented due to the construction of the vehicular access to the site, meaning that the principle of a service station in the area has already been agreed.
East Devon District Council planners will determine the fate of the application at a later date.
Two other applications for the land south of Lily Cottage for the installation of 6 fascia signs, 3 booth lettering signs and 1 x 15 inch digital booth screen and for the installation of 4 freestanding signs, 2 banner units and 21 dot signs are also under consideration.
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