Plans for a new McDonald’s and Starbucks as part of a proposed £5 million business park in Huntly have attracted mixed views.
Proposals for the business park were revealed by The Press and Journal yesterday.
We then asked on Facebook whether McDonald’s and Starbucks would be good for the town.
Responses ranged to unbridled joy at the prospect of getting two of the world’s biggest food and drink retail names on the doorstep to worries about extra HGV traffic trundling up the A96 between Aberdeen and Inverness.
There will also be a super-fast electric vehicle (EV) charging station on the site just off the A96, if the plans succeed.
The new business park, called Linnorie, is predicted to contribute more than £100,000 a year in business rates to support public services in Huntly and the surrounding area.
Described by those behind the scheme as “a new place to meet, eat and recharge”, the project is also expected to deliver significant investment to the area, directly creating 100 local jobs and further employment opportunities during the construction phase.
Linnorie Business Park is the brainchild of West Coast Estates (WCE), an Aberdeen-based property developer, in partnership with family-owned shortbread-maker Dean’s of Huntly.
Dean’s has a warehouse and distribution facility next to the site of the proposed business park, with both the shortbread firm and WCE highlighting potential benefits to “sustainable transport”
Linnorie would have eight ultra-rapid charging points powered by renewable energy.
But some of our readers are sceptical about the potential benefits.
‘This will be awful for Huntly’
“Yet more HGV on the single lane A96 and coming up A9”, said Margery Swinton.
Paul Southworth said: “This will be awful for Huntly. People will just stop at the McDonald’s on the A96, drawing any remaining custom from the town centre.”
A more humourous note was struck on Twitter, with ch3rri (art school era), suggesting local school pupils would welcome a new McDonald’s as an alternative to “pig slop”.
the gordon schools seeing the news of a potential mcdonalds in huntly knowing no one will wanna eat the pig slop pic.twitter.com/zOWXxpSoV2
— ch3rri (art school era)🍒🐶 (@xx_ch3rridog_xx) November 21, 2022
People can view the proposals and provide feedback by visiting a dedicated website, www.linnoriehuntly.co.uk
A Facebook page for the development has also been created to keep members of the public up to date.
The project website and Facebook page will stay open until the planning process is complete.
Conversation