Weymouth's new McDonald's to bring 100 jobs, with plans for 24 hour opening
But more than 20 objections have been received so far
Last updated 29th Apr 2022
The owner of the new McDonald’s restaurant at Weymouth’s Gateway site says the business will add another 100 jobs to the 300 he already employs locally when it opens in mid-May.
Mr Chris Truscott, who chairs the Weymouth BID and also sits on the Litter-Free Dorset group, told a licensing board of the lengths his company goes to in tackling litter at all of the McDonald’s restaurants he runs in Weymouth.
He was responding to criticisms objecting to the application for a 24-hour licence for the new premises.
Mr Truscott said that it was his money invested in the business, with a minimum 20-year agreement, and it was in his interest to ensure that it went well.
He said that if there were problems around the new restaurant, or any of the other restaurants, he would expect the duty manager to deal with it initially, if he or she felt comfortable to do so – if not to call the police.
He said he has not had a problem with ‘boy racers’ at Jubilee Park and did not anticipate any problem at the new premises, which some residents claim is likely to happen.
Barrister Charles Holland said the only real solution to complaints of nuisance would be to shut every 24-hour establishment in Dorset and hope people went elsewhere – but argued that would be disproportionate and not necessary as there were other ways of dealing with problems.
Mr Holland said that it also needed to be considered that many jobs were now 24-hour and for them, including ambulance drivers and other emergency staff, there was a need for 24-hour food and drink outlets.
The panel heard that 4-5 staff would be at the restaurant overnight to cater for customers.
Mr Gerry Matthews from Hetherley Road told the County Hall hearing on Thursday that the new premises was in a bowl and sound travelled upwards towards nearby homes – the most annoying being that from motorcycle and moped couriers who collected and delivered food.
“Going up the hill to Dorchester Road they will sound like a swarm of bees… If McDonald’s wasn’t open that problem wouldn’t exist,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s been thought about to have this at 2 o’clock of 3 o’clock in the morning,” he said, adding that there was already a problem with boy racers at Park and Ride and Sainsbury late at night.
“Whether a customer, or a courier, they have all got to go up the hill to get out,” he said.
Licencing panel chair Cllr Emma Parker said she had visited the site and “shared the pain” about traffic noise generally but said that was not a consideration for the current licence application.
Mr Truscott told the meeting he had agreements with two delivery firms which was currently limited to midnight – with the new restaurant having an area specifically for delivery drivers to avoid them sitting outside with engines running.
More than twenty letters of objection had been received by Dorset Council’s licensing panel – many claiming the proposed opening hours for the Souter Way restaurant is likely to lead to unnecessary noise, litter and anti-social behaviour.
The business has asked for a new premises licence which will allow late-night indoor refreshment between 11pm and 5am.
Dorset Police and Environmental Health had not objected to the licence, which the barrister said meant they were confident of the franchise not causing problems, adding that the restaurant car park was small and covered by CCTV, making it unlikely to attract boy racers.
Ward councillor Cllr David Gray said the planning application for the larger site had put a restriction on deliveries at other stores in the area of 11pm because they backed onto residential properties.
“I get constant complaints from residents about noise from the park and ride and that’s further away from homes…so we would expect complaints about noise pollution from a 24-hour operation,” he said.
Cllr Gray said there were currently talks being held about locking the park and ride at night and he feared the boy racer problem from there would then be displaced to the Gateway site.
He said that despite McDonald’s staff efforts at litter picking his own evidence from taking part in litter picks was that over 50% of the litter in the town centre RSPB reserve came from McDonald’s.
“The reality is that there will be a litter problem and 24-hour operation will only exacerbate that,” he said.
A decision on the application is expected to be announced within five working days.
The meeting was told that, whatever was agreed, it was easy, and free, for anyone to bring a review of the licence should there be problems at the site, or any other licenced site.