McDonald's finally wins its Galashiels go-ahead

McDonald's has finally won planning permission for a drive-through restaurant in Wilderhaugh, Galashiels, after being turned down twice this year.

The fast-food giant believed that Scottish Borders Council had guaranteed that there would be no planning problems when it bought the 2.2-acre plot for £500,000 (Caterer, 27 July, page 9). But the council rejected its applications twice because it said that the land had been earmarked for industrial development.

Now McDonald's has agreed to sign a Section 75 agreement, which would mean it giving at least one-third of its land to a neighbouring landlord for industrial use for a nominal fee.

A spokeswoman for McDonald's said that the £1.5m project would create 60 jobs, 20 of them full-time. She added that the restaurant would be open by mid-November, as long as the petrol blockade eased off in time for builders to convert the former car showroom by this date.