A fast-food takeaway has applied to open its drive-thru until two o’clock in the morning.
KFC on the Bagshot Road would like to adjust the conditions of the planning permission it obtained when it built the two story restaurant and takeaway.
But council planners have recommended that politicians ask KFC to come up with a car-park management plan and install darkened glass windows before they say ‘yes’.
The restaurant is currently allowed to open from 7am until 11pm, and owners want to extend the drive-thru lane open until 2 a.m.
By day, there is easy access to the fast-food restaurant for pedestrians and cyclists, not only from the west of Bagshot Road, but also from the east through a subway from Nightingale Crescent, Hunter Way, and Elizabeth Close in Harmans Water.
But at night time, and by car, the only accessible access to KFC is for cars driving northbound from Birch Hill and the Sports Centre towards the town centre, with south-bound traffic having to do a very large loop.
Whilst chicken-lovers will be delighted, seven letters of objection were received to the application, with some worried that the proposal would be a first a step toward eventual 24‑hour opening.
One resident said that the KFC planning statement was inconsistent considering that access to the site is one-way northbound.
Some families felt cooking odours regularly enter homes and gardens and that light pollution from the signage and vehicle headlights affects nearby bedrooms, and there are already vans and mopeds passing by late at night to pick up delivery orders.
Bracknell Town Council (BTC) also asked for planning permission to be refused, saying that the restaurant already opens for 13 hours a day, seven days a week.
BTC said that opening late would harm nearby residents, particularly families with children, and cause a disturbance with the high number of vehicles collecting meals for delivery.
The town council considered that operation until 2am was unreasonable in what they called a ‘residential’ area even though the restaurant is on a dual carriage way adjacent to a sports centre and a petrol station that opens late, and the nearest house is 30m away.
The borough council has recommended that the late opening is approved despite the objections of the seven residents and the town council, on the condition that KFC installs dark glass on its first-floor windows facing south and implements a car park management plan.
The decision will be made at a planning meeting on Thursday, March 19.
