Green light for McDonald's drive-thru restaurant in Mullingar as ‘vexatious' appeal thrown out

Irish Independent

9 hours ago

The decision paves the way for the fast food multinational giant to press ahead with the near 5,200 sq ft premises at a site within the town's existing Lakepoint Retail and Business Park.
Plans for the single storey premises were originally submitted in December and rubberstamped by local authority planners in February subject to 18 conditions.
A total of 35 car parking spaces had similarly been outlined by consultants in planning documents accompanying that submission.
Dublin based firm Downey said the proposed near one acre site, in addition to its proximity to other leading retailers such as Elvery's Sport, Woodies and an existing IMC Cinema, offered the potential to strengthen the midland's town's consumer footfall while also creating further jobs in the process.
'The proposed development of a drive-thru restaurant complies with the overall aims of the County Development Plan, with regard to the future growth of Mullingar and the wider county, through the provision of additional employment opportunities and food and beverage offerings,' an excerpt from the planning statement read.
In the wake of that decision, McDonald's bosses were dealt a blow a matter of weeks later when an appeal was lodged with the independent planning appeals body.
The grounds of that appeal contained 10 points of concern, most notably that the proposed development contravened sustainable planning. Other matters of unease concerned a lack of specified opening hours and suggestions the planned facility would 'deflect traffic' from using the town centre for eating and shopping purposes.
McDonald's bosses, in their response, insisted the appeal was 'vexatious in nature' and should be dismissed.
The basis for the appeal, they said, was fuelled by a desire to delay the development while rubbishing contentions the development was disproportionate to the car parking capacity of its intended location.
'There is an over provision of 84 car parking spaces serving the retail park following the construction of this proposal,' McDonald's chiefs said.
'As such the site cannot be considered too large of a scale or suggested to take up too much space within the existing car park.'
The development, the fast food giant contended, would also provide 'complementary and synergistic' use to Lakepoint Retail and Business Park's existing complement of services and would 'provide employment opportunities' in the locality.
In an inspector's report, Coimisiún Pleanála officials ruled against assertions over the development' zoning status while also dismissing arguments over its scale and intended 24 hour operating hours.
Those findings ultimately led Coimisiún Pleanála to approve planning subject to 16 conditions, determining how the plans had met appropriate use, scale, height and design requirements and would not impinge on the 'character or visual amenity' of the area.