Burger King approved for Leyland supermarket carpark

A Burger King branch is set to be built in the car park of Leyland’s Tesco Extra store after getting the green light from councillors.

Locals claimed that the eatery – with both dine-in and drive-thru facilities – would worsen antisocial behaviour in the area and bring noise and vermin to the doorsteps of those living nearby.

However, the outlet – off Towngate – was approved by South Ribble Borough Council’s planning committee, which heard that the proposal complied with both local and national planning policy.    Members did, however, insist that an acoustic fence was installed to help reduce any disturbance to residents.

The restaurant will accommodate between 50 and 60 people inside, with space for around another dozen customers in an outside seating area.

It will spring up in the south western corner of the car park, alongside Leyland Leisure Centre.  The scheme will result in the loss of 110 parking spaces for Tesco, but the committee was told that the development area is “underused” compared to the rest of the car park.

The branch – which it is expected will employ 35 people – will operate between 8am and 11pm, seven days a week – meaning it will open two hours later and close one hour earlier than Tesco every day but Sunday.

However, local resident Alan English, whose home backs on to the forthcoming Burger King site, told the meeting at which the application was discussed that the outlet would become a source of “noise pollution” for him and his neighbours. He also noted that the residential properties in the vicinity were Grade II listed and part of the Leyland Cross Conservation Area – and so subject to restrictions about modifications.

“We can’t put in all these modern building [features] that help to dampen…noise…but we put up with that.  I think it’s so unfair that we also now have to start putting up with [Burger King] at the back of our houses,” Mr. English said.

Fellow resident David Walmsley said “discarded food” from customers would bring further roblems.

“The approach to the site at the back of the leisure centre can only be seen as a highway for feral dogs, cats and rats,” he warned.

Meanwhile, Leyland Central ward councillor Haydn Williams said the eatery had the potential to exacerbate an existing “hotbed” of antisocial behaviour within the town.

However, council planning officer Debbie Roberts said such issues were “already there”.

“There is no proof this [development] will make it any worse or better,” she added.

Ms. Roberts also said environmental health officers were “satisfied” with the plans and that traffic using the site would be shrouded behind existing “shrubbery and hedgerows along [the] Fox Lane boundary”.

Tom Roberts, the agent for the application, said a noise impact assessment had been submitted as part of the plans and that Lancashire Police had offered advice – taken on board by Burger King – recommending how to “reduce the risk” of antisocial behaviour and crime being associated with the new outlet.

However, committee member Cllr Mary Green said outside seating at McDonald’s in Leyland had previously had to be removed because of such problems and – suggesting the Burger King proposal should be refused – warned that the situation could be replicated at the rival restaurant.

Her committee colleague, Cllr Pete Pillinger, also suggested that “the sort of establishment” being proposed was likely to attract customers with “loud stereos blurring out”.

But, having heard that the development was compliant with planning legislation, members ultimately approved the development by eight votes to two.

Obesity rates amongst children in the area and the proximity of the proposed fast food joint to schools were not deemed relevant – as they would have been at other locations in the borough – because the site is within a defined town centre area.