A discount retail chain supermarket has been given the go-ahead by councillors after they heard there was widespread community support for increased consumer choice in the area.
As part of the development off Bedale Road, Aiskew, North Yorkshire Council’s Richmond constituency planning committee also gave the go-ahead for a drive-thru coffee shop over one of the last fields between Leeming Bar Industrial Estate from Aiskew and Bedale.
The meeting heard developer Morbaine’s ambition to build the 1,858sq m out of town foodstore, standalone cafe and 165 car parking spaces over a greenfield site had come with a claim that 30 full-time jobs would be created.
However, a resident told the meeting while the proposal was being promoted on the basis that it would create dozens of jobs, “in the real world these jobs will only be created by lost jobs to local shops”.
He added that many people had questioned the need for the drive-thru cafe, particularly due to the coffee shop and fast food outlet at nearby Leeming Bar Services.
The resident said: “Why do we need two Costas, one to two hundred metres apart? There is a local drive-thru [McDonalds] one to two hundred metres away which already causes litter in the community.”
Michael Chaloner, of Leeming Bar and Aiskew Parish Council, told the committee waste thrown from cars using the proposed drive-thu cafe would generate “mess and vermin” and the late evening opening hours of the cafe would suit “boy racers so well”.
He stated: “The drive-thru is not required locally. There is a McDonald’s within 150m.”
The planning application follows Bedale councillors saying greater choice over food was needed in the area, with a convenience store near the proposed and a Morrisons convenience store, a small Coop supermarket and the Nisa store also stocking Coop products in the town centre.
An agent for the applicant said it was proposing a “high quality, but sensitive” development which served the communities of Leeming Bar, Aiskew and Bedale.
He said some 70 per cent of responses to a public consultation had supported the proposal, they accepted there was opposition to the drive-thru and would agree to conditions to prevent it becoming a fast food outlet and closing at the same time as the supermarket.
The agent said some residents had confirmed they were driving ten miles each way to the supermarket to do their weekly main food shop.
He said: “Those in favour of the scheme recognised it would increase choice locally, and thereby reduce unnecessary journeys to supermarkets outside the area.”
Before councillors approved the proposal, Councillor David Hugill told the meeting he could see “a possible need” for the drive-thru as the nearby McDonalds drive-thru served the A1(M) and could only be reached by driving through car parks.
He said the proposed drive-thru would serve “local roads”.
Coun Hugill said: “Obviously we’ve got this McDonalds drive-thru not too far away. It is slightly misleading that we’ve got the sign there saying McDonalds on the side of the road because it is a long way inland.”
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