A CAMPAIGNER says fed-up residents will 'not roll over' in the fight against plans for a controversial coffee shop drive thru at a retail park which could be open 24 hours.
Matt Brown has distributed homemade posters which say 'no to another drive thru' at Elgar Retail Park in Blackpole Road, Worcester amid concerns it will add to 'gridlock' on the roads and further damage the quality of life for residents.
A petition against the scheme, set up another resident, has already garnered in excess of 100 signatures.
The application for the drive thru, rumoured to be a new Starbucks, seeks approval for 'unrestricted trading hours' which has led to concerns from residents about noise, especially as some say they are already disturbed by the tannoy from KFC.
Going door-to-door, Mr Brown has helped galvanise those in the community who are against the proposed scheme and urged neighbours to register their opposition with Worcester City Council. The consultation closed on July 11.
The 60-year-old has lived in Salters Close since 1985, before the retail parks were built and says, since they were developed, 'it has slowly eroded our quality of life'. The Elgar Retail Park was granted planning permission in 1987.
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The landscape gardener says there are also car meets on the car park where 'boy racers do four or five doughnuts and leave' and is concerned this could get worse while food waste has attracted rats, foxes and gulls.
Cllr Jill Desayrah, the Warndon city councillor who has been meeting residents about their concerns, also intends to speak against the plans when it comes before the planning committee.
Cllr Desayrah called in the application which she said would otherwise have been dealt with under delegated powers when she learned of the scale of opposition.
"I can't believe they want to build this thing. We are not going to roll over," said Mr Brown.
He does not believe the issue will be the loss of 24 spaces but the extra congestion it will cause at what he described as the 'ridiculous junction' - the entrance to the retail park which 'should have been a roundabout'.
The proposed scheme would result in a loss of 35 spaces, although 11 additional spaces would be provided elsewhere within the car park leading to an overall loss of 24 spaces.
However, Mr Brown said: "Parking isn't the issue - the issue is people choose not to park in there because it's busy and park here (on the nearby estate). It's a nightmare getting in and out."
He says residents already have problems turning right out of Masons Drive due to the traffic congestion caused by the retail parks.
"This will be the straw that breaks the camel's back. I feel like they view the residents as collateral damage. Half the time people aren't going to be able to get into the drive thru because the traffic is so bad. The centre avenue through the retail park is gridlocked. Nobody will be able to get into the drive thru. This is a bridge too far. We were here first, not that it seems to matter to them," he said.
The plans, submitted by Legal and General Assurance (Pensions Management) Limited, have yet to come before the planning committee.
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