Plans submitted for new McDonald’s restaurant and drive-thru off the A27 Southampton Road

McDonald’s could soon be opening a new drive-thru in Fareham, a plan which the fast food giant has said would create 120 new jobs.

In plans submitted to Fareham Borough Council, McDonald’s said the new restaurant and drive-thru off the A27 Southampton Road would mean a multi-million-pound investment in the area.

It has applied for permission from borough planners to build a freestanding restaurant/takeaway with a drive-thru, car parking, landscaping and associated works, including customer order displays, as well as three separate advertising consent applications for various signage.

McDonald’s said it looked at other potential sites in and around Fareham but deemed the brownfield site of land at a junction with the A27 Southampton Road and Farm Road, near Titchfield, the most appropriate.

The unused land to the front of Abbey Park is bordered by a business park and the air cadet site. There are shops to the north and a petrol station and hotel to the southeast on St.Margaret’s roundabout. The application also noted there are a small number of houses on Farm Road, near the proposed site.

The modern freestanding, 474sqm, two-storey McDonald’s would have an 86-seat restaurant and 37 car parking spaces, including two accessible bays and two grill bays. There would also be 12 cycle spaces planned divided into five motorbike spaces and six Sheffield customer bike stands, if plans are approved.

Plans said to help manage noise and anti-social behaviour all shift managers would have ‘conflict resolution training’ so it would be a safe place to eat for customers and work for employees.

Documents also said the international firm wants to tackle litter in as many different ways as possible and would carry out a minimum of three daily litter patrols where staff would pick up any litter dumped within 150 metres of the site.

In accordance with its ‘best practice’, the firm’s plans include noise, and traffic impact assessments, and a travel plan which includes encouraging staff to not use a car to work.

The scheme has been designed to retain the trees along the site frontage ensuring continuity and connectivity of habitats along the A27 with hedging on the western and northern boundaries.

McDonald’s currently employs around 125,000 people across the UK, with a mix of all ages and life stages. The firm said it has already contributed £3.45million to the economy in Fareham and, in 2017, it supported 223 jobs locally and the new site would mean 120 new roles created.

The council has set June 3 as a target date to decide on the restaurant planning application, with the reference P/24/0456/FP. It also has to decide on the advertising consent for signage, with the references P/24/0473/AD, P/24/0474/AD and P/24/0475/AD.