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Thursday, December 5, 2024

Popeye’s fried chicken drive-thru in Nottingham gets the go-ahead

Proposals for a new American fried chicken drive-through restaurant in Gedling were given the green light by just one vote in a planning meeting.

Popeye’s Louisiana Chicken was first established in the UK in Stratford in 2021.

Following a £50m private equity investment, the chain has been expanding further across the country.

Its plans for a new drive-through restaurant in Magenta Way, which sits within the Teal Close housing development, were approved at a Gedling Borough Council planning meeting on Wednesday, November 29.

Eight councillors voted for the proposals, and seven voted against, meaning they were passed by just one vote.

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During the meeting Cllr Mike Adams (Con) said: “I want to look at this from a public health perspective.

“In 2017/18, 27 per cent of reception age children in Nottingham were obese or overweight. This percentage increases to 40.8 per cent when they hit Year 6.

“I’ve got two major concerns with this development. One is opposite it and one is directly diagonal to it.

“One is a park, where families and children go to take recreation in an outdoor space, and the other is a school.

“I have a major concern placing something along these lines in that location…would be damaging to the local community. A fast food joint in that location seems all wrong.”

Objecting residents, who live on the Rivendell estate, raised similar concerns with the restaurant’s close proximity to the new Rivendell Flying High Academy.

“All those fumes will hit the school which is 100 yards from the Popeye’s restaurant,” an objecting resident said, speaking during the meeting.

“We have an old people’s home 100 yards to the left, 200 residents in there.

“In the summer this will be a nightmare. Old folk and children breathing in these fumes, the pollution not just from the cars, but the chicken being cooked itself. The smell will hit all the estate, especially in the summer.”

The resident added the traffic would be “terrible”.

Specialist retail developer Henry Davidson Developments (HDD) is behind the scheme.

It will sit off the A612 Colwick Loop Road, between Stoke Bardolph and Netherfield.

There had been hopes for a pub restaurant on the site, as part of the Teal Park local centre.

However Richard Croft, HDD’s director, said: “Our original intention for this plot was a pub restaurant, but despite and extensive and targeted national marketing campaign which commenced in 2018 and has continued ever since, we have had no serious interest from any operators.

“This is symptomatic of the continuing decline of the new build pub sector, with operators either merging, closing or selling off their surplus estate for other uses.”

Mr Croft sought to quash concerns and said the site would have enough waiting room for 24 cars, plus a further 27 car parking spaces, two disabled spaces and four kerbside collection spaces.

“I can confirm we have sought pre-application advice in respect of this current proposal and have taken a responsible approach to officers’ comments, including amendments to the design.

“The application is supported by robust technical reports and in particular local highways authority has no objections.”

Cllr Paul Wilkinson argued the scheme must be judged on planning grounds and said: “Therefore whether we like the idea of this particular restaurant or not, it does fit in with permission that has already been granted, and I think if we were to refuse it I fear that would be overturned by the planning inspectorate.”

Before the scheme was approved, Cllr Adams proposed an amendment to add litter picking within 100 metres as a condition.

This too was carried.

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