McDonald's Whinmoor: Revised drive-thru plans at 'historic' Leeds pub recommended for rejection
Plans for a new fast food restaurant at the site of a now-closed Leeds pub may face rejection for a second time as councillors are set to make a final decision next week.
Leeds City Council's chief planning officer has recommended that authorities refuse the amended plans for a new McDonald's restaurant to be built on the site of the barred-up Old Red Lion pub on the A64 York Road in Whinmoor.
The American fast food giant unsuccessfully applied to open a new restaurant on the site in June 2023, before submitting amended plans in August last year.
According to planning documents, the new McDonald's restaurant would include a drive-thru lane and 35 parking spaces across a 4,060-square-foot site.
Amendments made to the original refused plans include reduced opening hours - from its original 24 hours to 7am to 11pm - and a pledge to plant trees on the site as well as in adjacent woodland. It also promised to build a pedestrian refuge island on the Baildon Drive junction and a traffic island on the A64 York Road.
But with councillors set to make a final decision on April 24, it looks like a new fast food restaurant on the busy road may have to wait.
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Recommending the plans for refusal, the chief planning officer wrote in a report: "Whilst officers consider a number of the previous concerns have been addressed by the provision of revised and additional information, the proposal is still considered to be unacceptable with regard to highway and pedestrian safety, leading to significant concerns in this regard.
"With respect to heritage considerations, following a more detailed assessment on this issue, officers are now of the opinion the existing building can reasonability be considered a non-designated heritage asset despite its more modern and unsympathetic extensions.
“Its total loss as is proposed here would therefore result in significant harm to the historic significance of the building which cannot be supported by officers.
"Finally, the location of the fast-food outlet is considered to be inappropriate due to the proximity to schools and other amenity areas where children and young people would congregate."
When the plans were first unveiled, many Yorkshire Evening Post readers expressed shock at the proposal to open a McDonald’s on the site, with several calling it a “shame” to lose a pub with “so much history.”
The Old Red Lion shut in 2021 after pressure from police and authorities following a series of violent and antisocial incidents.
A final vote on the plans is scheduled to take place at the council's North and East Plans Panel on Thursday, April 24, 2025.