There will be no McDonald’s in the Fenland town of March anytime soon after council planners pulled the plug on an application first made on behalf of the company 5 years ago. McDonald’s submitted an application in December 2019 to build a new restaurant and drive-thru on the corner of Wisbech Road and Hostmoor Avenue, March, but it has been beset with planning challenges.
Fenland District Council principal planning officer Sheila Black told agents acting on behalf of McDonald’s that they have “tried to progress the application.
“But there are several outstanding matters which have not been addressed and which mean that the application cannot be reasonably determined by the local planning authority”.
Agents Contour Planning Services were warned in July by Nikki Carter, senior development officer, that they had heard nothing since February of this year and that “as a consequence, the application has been outstanding on the council’s records for a period of 237 weeks (4.5 years).
“I, therefore, intend to treat the application as ‘finally disposed of’ under Article 40 of the above Order to remove it from the Statutory Register of outstanding applications for planning permission.”
Ms Black, in a decision notice dated September 2, noted that she had spoken to colleagues at county highways and received confirmation that “no meaningful discussions have taken place since 2021, and that the local highway authority still maintain their objection.
“I therefore would inform you that the application will now be finally disposed.”
It means that if McDonald’s wants to pursue their plans for a 2-storey drive-thru restaurant/takeaway and formation of a new access to the store, they will need to begin again with a fresh application.
Ms Black says she reviewed the timeline for this application and noted that there has been a series of requests to either withdraw the application and resubmit or as an alternative the council would finally dispose of this application.
5.6.2020 – suggest withdrawing the application and resubmit.
27.10.2020 – first consideration of Finally Disposing of the application.
4.3.2021 – second consideration of Finally Disposing of the application.
13.9.2022 – Head of Planning stating the application to be Finally Disposed of or taken to committee to refuse.
28.2.24 – request to withdraw following a meeting regarding the application.
16.7.2024 – fourth consideration of Finally Disposing of the application.
The site – formerly owned by Amherst Ltd of London – changed hands last year and is now owned by Isle of Man registered Cambridge Property Group plc.
The main problem in securing permission remains access and various proposals to mitigate these have never been agreed.
FACT FILE
As it celebrates 50 years in the UK, McDonald’s last month announced plans to open over 200 new restaurants in the next four years that will create more than 24,000 new jobs, signalling a £1bn investment from McDonald’s and its franchisees in the UK and Ireland.
