Plans for a new Greggs drive-thru on the site on a rundown pub have been branded ‘a recipe for a nightmare’. The popular fast-food bakery wants to demolish the former Farmer’s Arms, in Cheadle Heath, and set up shop on the site of the old landmark boozer.
Proposals for the new outlet went before local councillors and residents - but were not received well. The proposed restaurant would have eat-in facilities, with outdoor seating and 24 parking spaces as well as a drive-thru lane including order and collection points.
A planning application was submitted to Stockport council last summer - leading to residents immediately raising concerns about the impact on traffic at the busy junction of Stockport Road and Edgeley Road. All vehicles would enter and exit via the Edgeley Road side of the site, at what is described as a 'highly accessible location'.
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Local councillors were recommended to back the scheme when it was discusssed at a Cheadle area forum meeting on Tuesday night.
They heard from Helen Binns, of agents Walsingham Planning, who said the drive-thru would be a ‘beneficial addition’ to Cheadle Heath local centre, returning a ‘long derelict site returned to an active and viable use’. It would create 35 new jobs.
Ms Binns also reminded members that a council planning officer's report confirmed the scheme would have no ‘adverse impact’ on the road network or the environment. However members were far from convinced by reassurances that the drive-thru would not lead to further snarling up of traffic in the area.
Coun David Meller refused to support the application ahead of it being determined by the authority’s planning and highways committee next month.
"While this may comply with policy I get the real sense - particularly from what we’ve discussed this evening - that this is a bare minimum approach," he told the meeting.
“I’m not against a Gregg’s on that site, I’ll make that pretty clear. What I’m really quite against is the impact that I think this will have on the highway and that there’s a number of things that haven’t been considered."
Coun Meller said he feared a ‘snake of traffic’ would build up in the mornings, ‘clogging up’ Edgeley Road.
While he accepted traffic modelling had been done in the standard way, he remained far from reassured.
“This is a major road that links up to the motorway in the mornings, I don’t think that has been considered,” he said, noting plans for a new Lidl on the same stretch were also in the pipeline.
“It’s a recipe for a nightmare on that stretch as it stands,” said Coun Meller. “A recipe for a nightmare in terms of traffic.”
Coun Meller dismissed the argument that the extra traffic would be no different to when the Farmers Arms was open.
“I don’t know how you can use pub numbers to justify this,” he said. "Most people will walk to the pub because they want to have a drink. People aren’t going to get the bus to get a sausage roll.
"The clue is in the name, in that it’s a drive-thru. I can’t recommend this for approval.
And he blasted the applicant - Greene King Brewing and Retail Ltd - for its ‘terrible’ consultation.
“Residents have barely been engaged with this,” Coun Meller continued. “It’s taken me and a couple of other members to reach out and let residents know that this has been coming up and to try and keep them engaged.”
Further concerns over air quality and on-site road safety were raised by Coun Jilly Julian and Coun Yvonne Guariento respectively. And Coun Anna-Charles Jones questioned why there were no electric vehicle charging points for disabled drivers.
Earlier in the meeting Sandra McShannon, an Edgeley Road resident of 34 years, had also spoken against the plans.
She told councillors: “We all want to see the site developed, it’s an eyesore and the residents of Cheadle Heath would like to see the site used for the benefit of the area.
“However, the plans for a drive-thru Greggs don’t benefit anyone other than Greggs and the current site owners.”
The committee - bar two members who sit on the planning and highways panel - recommended the application be refused. They also recommended a site visit by members of the committee.
Cheadle area committee met at Trinity Church on Tuesday night (June 20).
