A planning application for a coffee drive-thru at Inshes retail park, Inverness has been recommended for refusal on grounds of increased traffic congestion on and off site.
Councillors will consider the proposal at today’sSouth planning applications meeting at council HQ.
The plans are for a small takeaway restaurant in the last remaining plot on the Inshes site, behind the B&M store and next to a McDonald’s drive-thru.
The plot was originally earmarked for a much bigger retail unit, but for the coffee drive-thru, the building will be much smaller, allowing space for the drive-thru element and some external seating.
Council transport planning officials are recommending refusal on the ground that there is already congestion on the public roads in that area, with that section of the retail park already full to overflowing during busy periods.
The drive-thru would generate increased demand, the planners say, and endanger pedestrians walking to and from their cars.
They say that accessing the existing drive-thru service (for McDonald’s) is “not straight forward. The introduction of a second drive-thru without effective traffic management would most likely complicate traffic movements in this area”.
