Passionate plea from Derbyshire head teacher sees plans for drive-through Greggs and Starbucks close to school and a motorway junction rejected

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A passionate plea from a Derbyshire head teacher has seen plans for a drive-through Greggs and Starbucks close to a school and a motorway junction rejected. At an Erewash Borough Council meeting last night (September 18) councillors rejected plans for Greggs[2] bakery and Starbucks[3] coffee shop drive-throughs off Bostocks Lane, Sandiacre, close to the M1/A52 Sandiacre Interchange and Friesland School. Frequent raucous clapping and cheering followed speeches by people opposing the plans, prompting regular calls from the meetings chair and council’s head of planning to stop such action immediately because “this is not a theatre” or a “form of entertainment”.

Objections[4] from 40 residents, former MP Maggie Throup[5], the leader of the borough council opposition, and the Sandiacre, Risley with Hopwell and Stanton by Dale parish councils had all been filed before the meeting.

The planned Greggs drive-through.

On the night, it was a speech from Craig Patterson, head teacher of Friesland School, a 10-minute walk from the site, which appeared to prove most persuasive. Mr Patterson, who has been head teacher of the 1,000-student school since 2020, told the meeting: “I am incredibly worried about the footfall to and from a drive-through restaurant. The desire to nip down for a sausage roll would be overwhelming and strong.

“There is the significant prospect of hundreds of students heading down the road to Greggs and for the parents to go to Starbucks on the school run. “We already have significant parking issues and I can’t control where the parents park, even though we encourage parents not to drive.

The planned Starbucks drive-through.

“The allure to get a coffee before school is alluring.” He said he was worried about groups of young people gathering in a location representing a “captive audience” for potential criminal activity.

Mr Patterson said: “There will be such a drive downhill for our students, maybe to abscond. “We get a significant number of lorries driving down the single-lane road and the traffic from Derby Road is only increasing.” Tara Brassil, who lives in Risley, said the reasoning of the Government inspector who rejected an appeal for a McDonald’s on the same site in 2015 is still sound.

She said: “Nothing has changed except that the traffic is even worse and now we have declared a climate emergency. “There are fast food outlets including drive-throughs in every direction, they are taking over the place.” She said air quality issues and public health concerns were enough of a reason to reject the scheme.

Cllr Wayne Major, leader of the borough’s Conservative opposition, said he strongly objected to the plans saying traffic issues would only be exacerbated by two drive-throughs. He said: “This is a makeshift service station, serving motorists off the M1 and A52. It is absurd that it would be for local use instead of acting as a M1/A52 service station for passing traffic.

“We are facing an absurd situation where the developer thinks that when one drive-through was rejected that two will be the solution.” He said the site would be better used for housing so that there was a direct community benefit. Cllr Stephen Jarratt, chairman of Risley with Hopwell Parish Council, said the scheme was “highly unwelcome on so many levels” and that it was “common sense that congestion will only get significantly worse” as the former Stanton Ironworks site is developed, creating thousands of jobs and an increase in associated traffic.

He said the scheme would be “highly detrimental” to residents and the character of the area, along with “intrusive” light and noise. Cllr Jarratt said: “Kids get excited and impatient. If a child is killed or maimed it may not rest easy on your conscience.”

Cllr Steve Bilbie warned the council that profit should not be “put ahead of the community”, calling the project a “recipe for disaster”. He also stated that it was “undemocratic” to tell residents not to clap. Steve Birkinshaw, the council’s head of planning, said he was “embarrassed” that Cllr Bilbie would say such a thing.

Cllr Lynne Evans, a member of Stanton by Dale Parish Council, said she was frequently collecting fast food litter such as Costa coffee cups and McDonald’s bags up to seven miles from the relevant chain restaurants. Phil Hayton said a traffic survey had found that 700 vehicles used Bostocks Lane per hour, outside of rush hour, with most vehicles being HGVs or trade vans. He said “many children are idiots” and would cross the road through traffic and that it was a “matter of time before a child is hit and the people who approved it will have that on their conscience”.

An agent for the applicants, Northern Star Assets Ltd, said the firm had read all objections to this application and the previous McDonald’s application, and the new plan had been amended after talks with experts, saying it would “not become a source of anti-social behaviour”. Cllr Dave Doyle said: “Residents want this site developed and we are going to develop this site. It is scrubland.

It is an opportunity for employment for people in Long Eaton.” Cllr Tim Scott said: “This is ripe for developing but not this one. This is not for residents but to capture people who would not normally come off the motorway here.

“Sausage rolls attract kids and we can’t put Friesland kids in danger.” Cllr Ann Mills said Derbyshire[6] County Council and Safer Derbyshire had let residents down and were “not doing their jobs properly” by not objecting to the scheme. Cllr Kevin Miller said: “If it looks like a service station and it smells like a service station, it is a service station.

The nearest house is 40 metres away, there are not enough parking spaces and people will just park in front of the houses and throw their rubbish away.”

He said the nine-metre-tall advertising towers planned for the site were “so tall you can see them from the space station”.

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References

1. ^ Visit Shots! now (www.shotstv.com)
2. ^ Greggs (www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk)
3. ^ Starbucks (www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk)
4. ^ Objections (www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk)
5. ^ Maggie Throup (www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk)
6. ^ Derbyshire (www.derbyshiretimes.co.uk)