No conditions were set for a planned drive-thru on Wetherby Road to be a coffee shop, say Harrogate council officials.
Lancashire-based developer Euro Garages is currently building a Leon restaurant on the site, despite being given permission for a Starbucks drive-thru.
Local residents have raised concern that the building on the site will be different from that which was approved.
Harrogate Borough Council has acknowledged that the building being constructed is not the same as the designs submitted to the authority.
However, it added that the developer has already submitted another application for the design which is under consideration.
Opening a drive-thru on Wetherby Road is ‘nuts’
Joe Shields lives across from the former Dental surgery site where the Leon is being built.
He and other residents have objected to the drive-thru being built since is was first proposed as a Starbucks in 2019.
While he is not against redeveloping the site, he raised concern over the drive-thru and its affect on neighbouring residents.
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Mr Shields, who worked as a marketing manager for various companies including fast-food chains, said:
“I have opened a few drive-thrus, I’m not against them.
“It is opening a drive-thru here which is nuts.”
Mr Shields pointed to the fact that the building at the site does not look like its designs.
A Starbucks drive-thru normally has a slanted roof, while Leon schemes are flat.
(Left) Designs for the Starbucks as submitted to Harrogate Borough Council and (right) the construction site of the Leon.
He questioned how the developer can continue to build a Leon, despite the fact that a government planning inspector gave approval for a Starbucks coffee shop drive-thru.
Last week, Mr Shields was forced to alert the planning authorities when contractors at the site began to erect an eight-metre advertising sign without permission.
He said:
“There are changes at the site on a daily basis.
“My impression is that they will just continue wacking this [the Leon] up.”
Meanwhile, David Stephenson lives next door to the site on Coachman’s Court.
David Stephenson, whose house on Coachman’s Court is next to the drive-thru site on Wetherby Road.
Mr Stephenson has lived with his wife in the same house for six years and would be able to see the serving hatch from his lounge window.
He said that he has accepted the fact that a drive-thru will be built next door to his home.
However, Mr Stephenson said he was concerned that the building being built is not the same as the designs.
He said:
“We were resigned to a Starbucks, but this is a bit overbearing.
“Why apply for planning permission if you’re going to do another building?”
No specific conditions for a coffee shop
The Stray Ferret asked Harrogate Borough Council how the developer was able to build the scheme as a Leon drive-thru when the original approval for the site is for a Starbucks coffee shop.
A spokesperson said:
“Permission was granted by the Planning Inspectorate for a ‘coffee shop to include a drive-thru’, not specifically for a Starbucks.
“The Inspectorate did not add any conditions to the permission they gave restricting the use of the premises solely to a coffee shop, so it can legally be used for any other use within the same use class, which includes a drive thru food and drink establishment.
“So permission is not required for any change of use. However, the building being built differs from the one given planning permission. Therefore, a planning application has been submitted for these changes and is under consideration.”
The Stray Ferret also asked Euro Garages to respond to concerns over the building and erecting advertising without permission, but the company declined to comment.
