1 week Ago
Norfolk County Council has defended its decision to back the city's eleventh McDonald's despite fears of increased traffic. The local highway authority division of the county council made no objection to the development of another McDonald's in the city, which will be located in the former Poundland unit in Albion Way, Riverside Retail Park. It cited a number of considerations when approached by Norwich City Council - which had the final say on the plans - after objections were raised because of fears it would cause an influx of new traffic and cause gridlock.
Some considerations cited by the county council state the retail unit will have generated a "significant degree of traffic already" that was taken into account. Concerns have been raised about increased traffic and gridlock because of the new McDonald's in Albion Way (Image: Google Maps) It also assumes anyone eating at the premises will be likely to already be on the retail park, due to its lack of drive-thru, therefore it's "not likely to generate new traffic" - as well as claiming the car park has the capacity to accommodate the site. A Norfolk County Council spokesman said: "We were consulted on the planning application for external works and we did not sustain an objection to this, or the change of use application, for several reasons.
"Reasons include that the premises is within a purpose built retail park that functions as a district centre which means a mix of uses, such as restaurants, are to be expected on that site." The Riverside Retail Park McDonald's will be the eleventh site around the city (Image: Denise Bradley, Newsquest) Senior councillors and anti-car campaigners highlighted concerns that the new restaurant will cause havoc in the already congested area. READ MORE: Sites of popular Norwich Lanes businesses up for sale Green Party councillor Gary Champion said: "This development is only going to encourage even more car use and it's going to be chaos.
Local highway authority, Norfolk County Council, made no objections to the proposed McDonald's (Image: Newsquest) "It's already a busy area for traffic and this will only make things worse." READ MORE: Proposal for new homes rejected for being 'out of keeping' with the area Matt White, head of Car-Free Norwich, added: "The area is already horribly congested with traffic on a regular basis. "This new restaurant will only exacerbate things by generating even more traffic, with queues of people waiting for food.
" Work on the new McDonald's is due to begin in the "late spring or early summer" with a view to opening by late autumn. The new McDonald's will take over from the former Poundland site (Image: Newsquest).
