New Burger King approved – near to 'World's best McDonald's'
A new Burger King drive-through is on its way – near to a McDonald's dubbed 'the best in the world'.
An application to tweak a planning permission – known as a non-material amendment – to develop land at Moors Farm, Rhallt Lane, Welshpool, just to the west of A483 has been given the thumbs up by Powys County Council planners.
The scheme is part of the wider proposal that was approved last year for a 40-bedroom hotel, drive-through Starbucks coffee shop and Greggs bakery development on the outskirts of the town.
The plan will see the Burger King development take the place of the Greggs bakery in the proposal.
Greggs has now opened an outlet at the petrol station on Cross Enterprise Park, which was formerly run by Tuffins and is just yards away from the Moors Farm development site.
In November the developers, KIM property investments lodged the non-material amendment to change the approved building and site layout to accommodate car parking arrangements and improvements to the drive through lane and provision of a bin store.
Planning officer Richard Edwards said: “The amendments to the parking layout still provide the approved level of parking on site whilst improvements have been made to the drive-through.
“The proposed scheme still provides a suitable level of parking and does not impact the wider elements of originally approved scheme.
“The external finish of the building has been amended to cladding to reflect the corporate design of the company that is proposed to occupy the building.
“The design is reflective of those seen throughout the country and is considered appropriate. ”
Mr Edwards added that the changes had been discussed with the council’s Built Heritage Officer as a number of listed buildings are nearby.
Following these discussions, Mr Edwards said that it was “not considered” that the changes would have a harmful “impact” on these historic buildings.
Mr Edwards said: “Whilst the external finish of the building is to be amended, the scale and form of the building remains the same.
“The change of materials would not be considered to visually impact the local amenity.”
As he considered the proposed change to be minor and does not “materially impact” the development or the policies used to approve the application, Mr Edwards approved it.
When the full application was approved in February 2023 it was said that the scheme could create up to 60 full and part time jobs, and the construction phase would also provide work for around 100 builders.
Previously the plans had been withdrawn twice due to traffic volume concerns about the Buttington Cross roundabout which has a turning for the A458, the main road between the Shrewsbury and Welshpool.
The nearby McDonald's, at Buttington Cross, was last year thrust into the spotlight after receiving top billing from one of the country's best chefs.
Gareth Ward, who runs Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms, near Machynlleth, praised the Welshpool franchise of the popular fast food restaurant when Wales Online asked him for his top three places to dine.
He described it as 'the best MacDonald's in the world'.
