Residents oppose plans for longer opening hours at Cosham McDonald’s
Eleven objections and a 38-signature petition oppose longer opening hours at the restaurant
Residents worried about noise and nuisance have raised concerns over plans to open a McDonald’s for an extra two hours each day.
Portsmouth City Council’s planning committee will determine an application to extend the opening hours of the fast-food restaurant in Portsmouth Road, Cosham.
The plans, submitted by Savills UK Limited on behalf of McDonald’s Restaurants Limited, would extend opening hours from 7am–11pm to 6am–midnight, adding an hour in the morning and evening every day of the week.
Council reports state that the additional two hours are needed to “meet the needs of its customer base and enhance overall operational efficiency”.
The application has received 11 objections from residents, along with a petition signed by 38 people.
The petition states: “There are four other 24 hour McDonald’s in the vicinity so this is unnecessary. The other sites are not in residential areas.
“We already suffer noise disturbance from before 5am until after 1.30am with the current 7am-11pm opening hours.
“Please consider the number of people who are against this proposal, even though McDonald’s believes that this will somehow deliver ‘an overall enhancement to the existing quality of life of residents’! We do not believe this to be the case. In fact we strongly believe the exact opposite.”
Other residents raised concerns about increased anti-social behaviour at the site, with one saying they “suffer from” it in the car park “during opening hours and beyond”.
Justifying the proposal, the applicant said: “The proposed extension to the restaurant’s trading hours is not considered to result in any unacceptable impact on residential amenity when assessed in the context of the site’s surroundings”.
The applicant also highlighted the restaurant’s location near a 24-hour petrol station and a major motorway, stating: “Having regard to this context, the proposed extended trading hours are considered acceptable.”
It added: “Based on experiences of other restaurants within the group, the bulk of the customers during the later evening hours will be drawn from passing trade rather than drawing new people into the area”.
The planning committee will decide on the application on 21 October.