Fareham will be getting a new McDonald’s – but only if a raft of changes are made to the roads outside.

Traffic issues had been a concern but plans to build a new two-storey, 249 square metre drive-thru restaurant near Southampton Road have been approved.

Fareham Borough Council planning committee finally granted permission, subject to the developer entering into a section 106 legal agreement to ensure road improvements that would be signed off by the head of planning.

The committee first heard the planning application on April 9 and deferred its decision, asking Hampshire Highways to look again at its road safety concerns.

Hampshire Highways again did not raise any objections to McDonald’s Restaurant Ltd’s plans to build on land near the junction of Southampton Road and Farm Road.

The council meeting minutes on May 14 said permission was granted with conditions in the report and includes the following highway improvement on Southampton Road, A27:

  • A signal-controlled pedestrian crossing including modifications to the central reservation
  • Removal of the diverge/merge lane between the Abbey Park and Farm Road junctions
  • Modification/widening the shared footway/cycle way between the Abbey Park and Farm Road junctions
  • Modifications to the Abbey Park junction
  • Modifications to Farm Road junction
  • A contribution of £15,000, payable on commencement, towards the cost of the promotion and implementation of a Traffic Regulation Order to prohibit U-Turns along Southampton Road, A27 in the vicinity of the Farm Road and Abbey Park Junctions.

Hundreds of residents objected to the new McDonald’s, with concerns claiming the fast food franchise would make roads too dangerous for children during the council’s public consultation. 

However, members at the meeting on April 9, had agreed it is a brownfield employment site and McDonald’s is an appropriate business, but that there were fears over road safety, said Councillor Ian Basable (Con, Park Gate).

Members considered the legal and illegal U-turning that happens along the Southampton Road near Farm Road, and its impact on the local neighbourhood.

The officer’s report on May 14 said the main road safety issues from councillors put to Highways to reconsider were the following:

  • turning right coming from St Margaret’s roundabout 
  • the location of U-Turn signs and ability to turn around
  • whether the two right turn lanes were long enough 
  • whether the removal of the acceleration lane at Abbey Park was necessary 
  • and the impact of the pedestrian crossing and whether this would disrupt the free flow of traffic along the A27.

The officer’s report said the local highway authority had reiterated that it had no highway safety concerns to the development.

Customers will enter and exit the site via a new road layout on Farm Road. A road that accesses the Air Cadet Club next to the site with homes nearby.

The planning committee voted eight to one in favour to grant permission on application reference P/24/0456/FP.