Local Residents Against McDonald's

HAROLD HILL

ROMFORD, ESSEX, ENGLAND


Residents, upset by McDonald's plans to build a 'drive-thru' in their residential neighbourhood,
sent out the following in a mailout to 1,200 homes in their area.


HOW DO YOU FANCY A BIG 'M'...

FREE OPENING OFFER INCLUDES:

- Greater volumes of traffic on already busy roads
- Free meeting place for crowds of youths
- Increasing amounts of litter
- Possibility of vermin
- Noise pollution
- and so on

IN YOUR QUITE RESIDENTIAL AREA!



Dear Neighbour.

Planning permission is being sought by McDonald's Restaurants to convert the Bow and Arrow Public House in Straight Road into a fast food, Drive through restaurant. The planning Application No: is 1445.96 and may be veiwed on the 7th Floor of Mercury House between the hours of 9-5 Monday to Friday.

The planning application states that McDonald's hours of opening would be from 7 A.M. until 11 P.M. with the option to extend these if demand was sufficient. I think it is worth pointing out that other McDonald's drive trhough have 24 HR operation and there is no reason to suppose they would not actively seek this on this site.

In Straight Road there are two Junior schools and large volumes of children can be seen going to and from them each day, given the already very busy nature of the road any increase in traffic volumes must place them at greater risk. There is no reason to assume that McDonald's will not advertise this restaurant on the nearby trunk roads thereby bringing more traffic onto the estate.

Immediately adjacent to the site are blocks of senior citizens flats which would be adverely affected by the constant movement of vehicles and the associated noise, this also applies to residents of Briar Road and Waverley Crescent, residents of these roads would also experience higher levels of noise and smells in their gardens during the summer months.

Traffic levels would increase considerably on Briar Road which is a busy throughfare to the nearby housing estate. The net effect of this would be to force traffic back onto Chatteris Avenue where traffic calming measures are already in place.

We have formed a small action group to oppose this application on the grounds that it is totally unsuitable for a residential area, we feel there are other sites more suitable namely the empty filling station at Gallows Corner or the old disused and empty B & Q Warehouse at Gallows Corner and the empty plot of land adjacent to the new B & Q Warehouse.

If you feel you can support us in opposing this application, we have enclosed a letter outlining our objections and all you have to do is write your address in the top right hand corner, and sign it at the bottom, place it in the pre-addressed envelope, put a stamp on it and post it.

I do hope you can support us as we feel this application goes against the very principles that Harold Hill was designed with in mind, namely to keep Residential and Commercial Areas seperate.

Yours Sincerely.

G. JACKSON   TELEPHONE NO: 344134.
A. LEWIN                   347015.

To make things really easy for those wishing to submit an objection against the proposal,
the mailout included a standard letter of objection and a pre-addressed envelope.




PLANNING REFERENCE NO 1445.96
London Borough Of Havering
Head of Development Control Services
MICHAEL DAY
Directorate of Environment & Planning
Mercury House, Mercury Gardens,
Romford, Essex, RM1 3SL



Dear Sir,

RE: Reference: 1445.96

I wish to express my objection to the proposed conversion of the Bow & Arrow Public House to a McDonald's 'drive thru restaurant'.

I object on the grounds of unacceptable levels of traffic increas, environmental and noise pollution.

These developments should be placed in areas designated for commercial use and not residential.

Yours Sincerely.


Harold Hill Residents Against McDonald's