By John Baron
Councillors have performed a u-turn and approved controversial proposals for a new Burger King drive-thru restaurant in Kirkstall Retail Park.
As reported by WLD last month, members of the south and west plans panel had said they wanted to refuse proposals for a new £2 million Burger King on highways safety grounds.
There had been multiple objections surrounding traffic congestion and road safety.
But councillors meeting in Leeds Civic Hall today heard legal advice that the council would be unlikely to win if they refused permission and the developer appealed against the decision to an independent planning inspector.
They were told that similar refusals in other parts of the country had seen local authorities have their decisions overturned, with substantial costs awarded to the applicants.
Council highways officers said they were satisfied that the traffic impact of the scheme was not serious enough to refuse permission.
Councillors voted 3-1, with a number of abstentions, to approve the plans in principle and defer and delegate final approval to the council’s chief planning officer, subject to a raft of conditions.
Conditions include a legal agreement which would see the developer pay £30,000 towards road signal improvements and £42,000 for traffic cameras.
Councillor Andrew Parnham (Lab, Armley) voted against the proposals on traffic grounds. He said he felt he was being ‘railroaded’ and ‘gaslighted’ into approving the plans by council officers and said it was ‘no surprise… five local councillors had objected.’
“If I agreed to this plan, residents in Armley would think that I am bonkers,” he added.
Meeting chair Paul Wray (Lab, Hunslet & Riverside) agreed the proposals were contentious but advised councillors not to use their own lived experience or ‘what your constituents might want’ but give significant consideration to planning policy and the advice of professional council highways officers.
Real estate investment trust NewRiver Retail submitted the single storey plan for the disused corner plot at Kirkstall Retail Park, next to Matalan. They argue the project would create jobs and bring a disused site near Savins Mill Way back into use.