New A13 McDonald's drive-thru will become chain's seventh restaurant in Basildon
An Essex borough's potential seventh McDonald's - just minutes from the nearest existing restaurant - could see 120 new jobs created if plans are carried out. The American fast-food giant has formally submitted plans to build a new venue in the car park of Homebase on London Road, Vange, Basildon, near the A13.
The application has now been validated by the council and will be decided at a later date. Letters were previously sent to residents of Pitsea, and a full consultation was launched online regarding the plans for the Homebase car park.
In its application, McDonald's said the new restaurant would create "at least" 120 new jobs for the borough, claiming it has already contributed £10.03million to the Basildon borough's economy across six existing sites, with 623 jobs reportedly created in the borough since 2017.
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The Basildon borough already has five McDonald's restaurants - the Fortune of War roundabout on the A127, Festival Leisure Park, Mayflower Retail Park, Pitsea Retail Park, and Eastgate Shopping Centre - along with a "McDelivery kitchen" for home deliveries based in the Pipps Hill Industrial Estate.
The new venue at London Road, should it be built, would be just a seven-minute drive from the closest McDonald's in Pitsea Retail Park. The drive between venues at Festival Leisure Park and Mayflower Retail Park is just six minutes.
McDonald's said the new restaurant would be a "multi-million-pound" investment and have the capacity for 79 covers inside and outside the premises. It also argued the benefits of employment and business, along with the location's "enclosed" space, would mitigate any harm caused by the development being built on green belt land.
In their conclusions, McDonald's said in its application: "The proposals provide the opportunity for McDonald’s to meet a long-standing requirement for a restaurant to serve this catchment area, to meet customer demand and introduce additional choice in the market.
"The proposed development represents a multi-million-pound investment creating jobs both during the construction and operation phases, resulting in many associated economic benefits for the local area."