The McDonald’s drive-thru in Maidstone<\/p>\n
The branch, which sits between the A20 Broadway, Barker Road and Hart Street, already tried for an extension once before.<\/p>\n
In 2016, it asked to be allowed to stay open 24 hours a day<\/a>.<\/p>\n Permission was refused by Maidstone council because of concerns of noise affecting residents trying to sleep in neighbouring properties.<\/p>\n The firm appealed, but in 2018, a government planning inspector upheld the council\u2019s refusal.<\/p>\n He referenced a noise survey undertaken at the time that recorded \u201cpuerile chanting, anti-social and unnecessary revving of engines, car honks, youths shouting across the car park, noisy music from a car window, doors slamming, and a female shriek\u201d all being recorded in the restaurant\u2019s car park in the 15 minutes after its midnight closure.<\/p>\n One neighbour commented: \u201cIt\u2019s a nightmare. The boy racers in the car park and the smell of the food, we don\u2019t get any sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n This time, McDonald\u2019s said permission should be granted, because it was seeking only a \u201cmodest\u201d two-hour extension.<\/p>\n \u2022 Find out about planning applications that affect you at the Public Notice Portal by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n It has commissioned a Noise Impact Assessment by a professional consultant that found that the extra noise would not be significant, although the survey seemed to be based on an assumption the two-hour extension would bring in only 24 extra drive-thru customers in that period.<\/p>\nMcDonald’s seeks a ‘modest’ increase in opening hours<\/p>\n