last year rejected a planning application for the restaurant in High Street in Northcote, <\/a>arguing it did not fit with the character of the area.<\/p>\nThe council’s decision to reject the application at a meeting in November was applauded by residents who had gathered in the chamber for the vote.<\/p>\n
That decision has now been overturned by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) after McDonald’s appealed against the Darebin Council ruling.<\/p>\n
![\"Street](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/d0be62ff362056c0b2f8cf278d601505.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Opponents to the McDonald’s restaurant argue the proposal would not fit the “cool vibe” of the area. (ABC News: Stephanie Anderson)<\/p>\n
High Street, Northcote was named the “world’s coolest street” by Time Out magazine in 2024, with the magazine praising its “unique” local businesses.<\/p>\n
The site of the proposed restaurant, at 323 High Street, has been empty for more than a year, after a fire.<\/p>\n
More than 11,000 people had signed an online petition against the McDonald’s restaurant, which argued the restaurant would “compromise Northcote’s unique character”.<\/p>\n
“Continuing, fast-food establishments like McDonald’s typically lead to an increase in litter, undesirable traffic congestion, and environmental concerns tied to such a high-volume business model,” the petition said.<\/p>\n
However, VCAT member Michael Deidun said the tribunal could not reject the application purely because it was being made by a fast-food giant.<\/p>\n
“This Tribunal does not have the power to review the corporate approach of McDonalds, its work practices and ethics, the type of food it produces, its impact on human health, or whether it fits the ‘cool’ vibes of its context,” he said.![\"McDonalds](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/b3c519aa37aa8f40066c92cd96d0368a.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Several communities have fought plans by McDonald’s to set up restaurants in their area. (ABC Radio Brisbane: Anna Levy)<\/p>\n
McDonald’s Australia said it welcomed the decision by VCAT, arguing the site was already zoned for commercial use.<\/p>\n
“The restaurant represents an investment of more than $2 million and reflects McDonald’s ongoing commitment to employment-generating development across Victoria,” the fast-food operator said.<\/p>\n
“The restaurant will be owned and operated by a local franchisee, who will contribute to the local area through employment, access to training and development opportunities, and supporting local community organisations.”<\/p>\n
‘It’ll change the vibe of High Street’<\/p>\n
McDonald’s Australia said the development would generate 100 jobs during construction and a further 100 full-time, part-time and casual jobs once operational.<\/p>\n
“We look forward to joining Northcote and playing an active role in the local community when the restaurant opens later this year,” it said.![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/24761d4c83ded79d91b1b103fb8c34da.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Northcote resident Matt Atanasovski hopes the McDonald’s restaurant does not hurt local businesses. (ABC News)<\/p>\n
Northcote resident Jo Pugh said she was disappointed that the council’s decision to reject the application was overturned.<\/p>\n
Phillip Island McDonald’s backlash<\/a><\/p>\nThe fast food giant is facing backlash after lodging a planning permit application to build a new restaurant in tourist hotspot Cowes.<\/p>\n
“I think it’s a poor decision. There are plenty of McDonald’s around this area generally in the surrounding suburbs and I don’t think we need a McDonald’s in High Street,” she said.<\/p>\n
“It’ll change the vibe of High Street, bring a different demographic in.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another Northcote local, Matt Atanasovski, said he had mixed feelings as he thought the restaurant might bring people to the area.<\/p>\n
“I guess Maccas isn’t necessarily cool so it will be a bit of an eyesore for the street,” he said.<\/p>\n
“My hope is that it doesn’t take away from the local businesses who are very much struggling here on High Street because of our economy.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"McDonald’s has won a court battle to build a 24\/7 fast-food restaurant in a Melbourne shopping strip named…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,37911,306645,53663,53664,306644,160615,6676,180913],"class_list":{"0":"post-633086","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-fast-food","12":"tag-jo-pugh","13":"tag-maccas","14":"tag-mcdonalds","15":"tag-michael-deidun","16":"tag-northcote","17":"tag-restaurant","18":"tag-victorian-civil-and-administrative-tribunal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}