The campaign against a new McDonald’s opening in York is gaining speed.
Plans are in to turn the former Iceland supermarket on Fulford Road into a branch of the fast food restaurant.
It would open from 7am till 11pm seven days a week and create 45 full time equivalent jobs.
Almost as soon as the plans were revealed, a campaign was launched to stop McDonald’s moving in to the site, which it would share with supermarket Aldi.
Joe Redshaw, who is coordinating a residents fightback, told YorkMix it would create litter, add to the “already appalling” traffic and tempt students at the five schools in the area away from healthier eating options.
He has launched a petition to oppose the new restaurant, which has already attracted more than 300 signatures.
And at the time of publication, there were 126 objections lodged to the planning application – and three in support.
And there’s a public meeting tomorrow evening (Thursday, 25 April) at St Oswalds Church hall in Fulford. “Anyone with objections to the application are welcome,” Joe said.
Road is ‘far too busy’
Among those objecting is York Green Party leader Andy D’Agorne. He writes: “The car park is shared with Aldi. the proposed use and extended hours of operation will generate more traffic and parking demand at peak times than can be safely catered for.
“This will risk blocking of the busy footway which is well used by local schools and people walking to the bus stop.”
Other comments by those objecting include these:
- City of York Council are removing the fast food billboards to try to promote healthy eating. So remove the billboard outside Iceland and replace it with an actual McDonald’s?
- As a 17 year old, I am aware there is a lot of anti-social behaviour from teenagers around my age already (especially down by Millennium Bridge), and a McDonald’s would drastically increase this behaviour. It would also be situated near a lot of schools so it would definitely become a hotspot for the wrong crowd. I am already scared enough walking to school, this would make me even more anxious
- Fulford Road is already far too busy to support a fast food business in this location. The entrance/exit to the site is bordering on dangerous
- North Yorkshire statistics record five accidents between 2018 and 2022 on the section of Fulford Road from Hospital Fields Road to Fulford Cross, one of these was fatal. As a local resident, I know that there have been many unrecorded near misses relating to vehicles entering and leaving the site through the narrow entrance
- Development of a fast food restaurant and take away will worsen the traffic and congestion issues and consequently increase pollution in an area where many children go to school
- There is evidence that existing McDonalds restaurants attract a lot of anti- social behaviour, large groups of youths gathering, cars full of youths playing loud music, fighting, to name just a few, which will go on until the early hours of the morning, as it does at the other McDonalds locations
- It’s an historic area with a nice mix of facilities and local cafes. Personally I feel the addition of a large McDonald’s will trash our neighbourhood
- It is not in keeping with the character of the area. This is not snobbery or nimbyism, what I mean is this is a mostly residential area
- My main objections are that this proposed use of site does not fit in with the council’s obesity roadmap. The close proximity to five schools where it will be highly visible for many children’s commute to school will be absolutely detrimental to their health and wellbeing
- It would significantly increase road traffic on a route that is already suffering increasingly bad congestion, causing delays for road users and increasing air/noise pollution for residents
- Can’t think of anything more ridiculous the roads are gridlocked around there at least twice a day
- I think this plan absurd
Among the supportive comments is this one:
- Just let them build the McDonald’s, have them commit that it will be a small store (which it will have to be at that unit size anyway) and it will be fine. There’s a lot of the same voices here complaining but honestly I think it’s a very vocal minority. The majority of people would be completely fine and welcome this move.
No date has been set for the planning hearing yet. You can read and comment on the planning application here.