OUTRAGED neighbours have slammed plans for a Drive-thru at a popular Oxford McDonald’s.
The fast food giant is seeking to add the extension in place of the vacant Carphone Warehouse store next to its restaurant in London Road, next to the Headington (Green Road) roundabout.
The building is on the edge of Risinghurst and residents have claimed the proposals would increase traffic, pollution, and littering in multiple objections on Oxford City Council’s planning portal.
Emma Parker, of nearby Downside End, wrote: “This area of Risinghurst is already blighted by many cars illegally parking and making it dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians.
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“The road, pavements and kerbs are damaged by the number of cars. Adding this will only contribute further to the disruption.”
She added: “There is rubbish left from McDonald's all over the place nearby and this will make that worse.
“This is a quiet residential neighbourhood, with a great community.
“Adding a Drive-thru will bring in lots of people with no respect for the area, no understanding, and will not take account of the local infrastructure which cannot cope with this.”
Forest Road resident Louise Dunsmure added: “The existing McDonald’s operation has led to dangerous driving around the surrounding roads in Risinghurst and it is likely that increasing the McDonald's service will lead to more drivers in this residential area.”
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The former Carphone Warehouse building, which has been vacant for more than two years, would be demolished under the plans.
Proposals for a Drive-thru were refused back in April 1997 for lacking evidence about the impact on traffic to the site.
The new system would see customers travel through the existing car park and loop back round, via ‘side-by-side’ ordering facilities.
The back of the restaurant would be reconfigured to provide collection booths, while the car park would expand by three spaces to 34 bays.
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But the plans have even been criticised by people outside of the immediate area, including Fiona Tierney of Bickerton Road, Headington.
She said: “Headington can't sustain any more traffic. We should be looking to reduce car travel and associated pollution in our area and this will increase both hugely.
“It will adversely impact on the health of local residents by both pollution and the increased traffic making walking or cycling more difficult and dangerous.”
Rob Haynes, of Glanville Road in Cowley, added: “At a time when there's a combined crisis of climate, air quality, and road space, it would be an astonishingly bad decision to support new drive-through facilities.”
A McDonald’s spokesperson said the Drive-thru would 'create more jobs and bring further investment to the local community'.
He added: “We appreciate the comments made by residents and will review the questions raised.
“We take our responsibility towards litter very seriously, and the restaurant carries out three litter picks a day collecting all litter in the local area, not just McDonald’s branded packaging.
“This is something we will continue to do, and would like to work further with the local community to identify any particular hot spots.”
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