{"id":247559,"date":"2026-01-23T08:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T08:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/247559\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T08:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T08:49:14","slug":"mcdonalds-gets-consent-for-24-hour-restaurant-in-wanaka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/247559\/","title":{"rendered":"McDonald’s gets consent for 24-hour restaurant in W\u0101naka"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/p>\n

\nAn artist’s impression of the new McDonalds at Three Parks.
\nPhoto: Supplied\n<\/p>\n

There’s a strong appetite for McDonalds to maintain an environmentally and “socially responsible” standard when it arrives in W\u0101naka, a community leader says.<\/p>\n

The fast food giant was finally given the green light to develop a 450 square-metre 24 hour restaurant and drive-through in the Otago town.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Queenstown-Lakes District Council finalised its decision to grant resource consent for a McDonalds at the commercial precinct Three Parks on Sir Tim Wallis Drive.<\/p>\n

It follows a previous failed bid to obtain clearance to build a restaurant in rural zoning, along a highway passage into the township below Mt Iron – plans that were met with overwhelming resistance from locals.<\/p>\n

\"Generic<\/p>\n

\nW\u0101naka will soon have a McDonalds. (File photo)
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Tess Brunton\n<\/p>\n

Almost 93 percent of the 366 public submissions opposed the initial application<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Key concerns included the visual and aesthetic impact on the town, litter, as well as the area’s values about protecting the natural environment.<\/p>\n

Commissioners declined the application<\/a> in February last year.<\/p>\n

The latest proposal was approved on a non-notified basis under the Resource Management Act, meaning public consultation was refused.<\/p>\n

Queenstown-Lakes deputy mayor Quentin Smith said some concerns remained.<\/p>\n

“There’s no question that McDonalds generates a lot of litter, probably more than most food providers. That remains a concern for a lot of people,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We just hope that when they do come here they’re socially responsible operators and they do work hard to keep that under control.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen it first hand, a large distance around a McDonalds site you see litter and all sorts.”<\/p>\n

Waste management had been raised as a concern by disgruntled community groups during earlier public submissions.<\/p>\n

In his decision, council senior planner Ian Bayliss said the issue of waste generation effects generated from the proposal on the wider environment were considered to be “no more than minor”.<\/p>\n

Relocating the planned site into a commercial zone went a long way in allaying other concerns, Smith said.<\/p>\n

“The visibility and the character of Mt Iron and the entrance to W\u0101naka on a rural site were legitimate things that were considered under that previous application. They were largely the reasons it failed,” he said.<\/p>\n

In a statement, McDonalds said it was pleased to be granted resource consent at Three Parks.<\/p>\n

“We will now move on to the next stage of development and construction planning. As it stands, we are hopeful of opening the McDonald’s W\u0101naka restaurant in the next 12 months,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An artist’s impression of the new McDonalds at Three Parks. Photo: Supplied There’s a strong appetite for McDonalds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":247560,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[48,138,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-247559","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-current-affairs","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-podcasts","16":"tag-public-radio","17":"tag-radio-new-zealand","18":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}