Buxton Aldi to become a McDonald's despite objections

The Aldi in Station Road, Buxton, is set to become the town's first McDonald's

A new McDonald's restaurant and drive-through has been given the go-ahead in Buxton despite 81 objections.

High Peak Borough Council has granted permission for the Aldi in Station Road to be turned into the first McDonald's in the town.

Public objections included concerns it would be an eyesore, attract boy racers and increase traffic, noise and litter.

But councillors approved the plans after an officer said measures would be put in place to avoid such problems.

Hypocrisy claim

Aldi is to relocate to the edge of the town.

Its existing Station Road supermarket will then be demolished and replaced with a single-storey McDonald's and 53 parking spaces, which will create the equivalent of 62 full-time jobs.

Objectors claimed the new building would be too large, would damage other businesses' trade, have a negative impact on people's health as well as the environment and could attract anti-social behaviour.  

One objector, Robert Parker, who used to be a McDonald's area manager, told the committee meeting at The Pavilion Gardens in Buxton: "In my book hypocrisy is a big deal and if you approve this application today I'll struggle to call it anything else.  

"On another day, you'll talk about healthy eating - you'll say eat less sugar, fat and salt to avoid obesity, diabetes and heart disease. On another day, you'll talk about the environment - you'll say we need to re-use, recycle and reduce to help reach net-zero targets.   

"And yet, most McDonald's products contain way more sugar, saturated fat and salt than we need.  

"And on the environment, the bags and boxes McDonald's use for their products - and produce all the litter we see - have an active and useful life from a few seconds to a few minutes at most."  

A former McDonald's area manager had objected to the plans

The council also received 633 comments supporting the scheme. But 566 of them were identical and stated the plans would provide a closer McDonald's for the town, create jobs and would represent a significant investment in the area.  

Buxton is the largest town in Derbyshire without a McDonald's, except for Glossop that has one under construction. The nearest McDonald's to Buxton is currently in Macclesfield, about 12 miles away.

An agent, speaking for McDonald's, told the council that litter-picks will take place from the restaurant, while a council officer said the design of the building will reflect the area and that there should not be any problems with traffic or parking.  

Members of the development control committee voted to approve the application on the condition opening hours be restricted to between 06:00 and midnight, instead of the proposed 24-hour drive-through service, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.