McDonald’s next to Greystones schools opposed

Greystones residents are set for another clash with fast food outlet McDonald’s over the location of a proposed drive-through for the town.

Last year a planning application from McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland for a 368sq m restaurant and drive-through with a 59sq m enclosed yard in Blacklion, to be located beside three local schools, was approved by Wicklow County Council.

The development was turned down by An Bord Pleanála, which cited design issues and the proper planning and development of Blacklion.

Now McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland has come back with a revised proposal incorporating a cafe, fitness studio and an expanded drive-through restaurant that, taken together, amount to some three times the size of the rejected proposal.

The development, located beside the Blacklion shopping centre, is served by a road running from a junction on the Greystones to Bray Road.

Under construction

Also opening from this road and located opposite the proposed McDonald’s are three schools. Two of these, a Gaelscoil and an Educate Together school, are primary schools, while the third, a second-level school, is currently under construction.

Competing views on the suitability of the site for a McDonald’s given the proximity of the schools have been expressed on Facebook, with some suggesting there could be as many as 80 jobs involved in the development.

However, a number of politicians and parents of children attending the schools are opposed to the development. Local councillor Tom Fortune said nobody would argue against the jobs element but the location of the schools and McDonald’s “should not be together”.

Attempts to contact McDonald’s Restaurants of Ireland were not successful.