Furious residents have fought against plans for a fifth Starbucks in their area which was set to be built over parking bays in the town.
A bid was submitted to construct the 24-hour coffee shop at Ashford Retail Park in Sevington, Kent.
The 535-space car park would have been reduced by 43 parking bays if the plans had been approved.
However, the proposal was rejected following furious objections from locals, who argued the area has more than enough coffee shops already.
Bruce Field, who visits the out-of-town site regularly from New Romney, pointed out that the site is already home to
Greggs
,
Costa
, and a cafe inside Dunelm.
Had the plans been approved, the site would also have become the fifth Starbucks outlet in Ashford town.
The 65-year-old told
KentOnline
: ‘We need the parking, we can’t do with less parking here because it is always busy.
‘We have coffee shops already. It would put me off coming here, I would go to Folkestone instead.’
Locals also raised concerns about the amount of litter in the area which they claim would be made worse by the coffee shop.
One of the objections, written by Suzanne Saxby, said: ‘There are already people unable to park at the Retail Park who are parking in the surrounding roads, which is dangerous, the retail park cannot afford to lose any parking.
‘There is litter from the existing shops, a drive through with no where to park and enjoy the beverages would increase this.
‘There are currently no other 24 hour business here so there is no need for a 24 service and the road noise created by cars using the site at night would be unpleasant for residents who are already subjected to the road noise.’
At weekends, the car park is busy with shoppers and can often reach its capacity, locals claimed.
Starbucks said the company had an agreement in place with the owners of the retail park, saying the loss of spaces would not detrimentally affect the existing parking provision at the site,
KentOnline reported
.
However officers at Ashford Borough Council disagreed. A report by the council said: ‘The proposed development has not satisfactorily demonstrated that sufficient off-street parking would be provided to serve the new unit, nor that adequate parking provision would be retained for the wider retail park.
‘As a result, the proposal has the potential to lead to additional on-street parking in the surrounding area, resulting in highway safety concerns and inconvenience for other road users.
‘Furthermore, it has not been demonstrated that the development could be adequately serviced without causing adverse impacts on highway safety.’
Ashford is currently home to four other Starbucks cafes, in the town centre, Designer Outlet, railway station and inside Cineworld.
The new branch was expected to create 20 jobs for the area.
However seven comments on the planning portal raised objections to the plans.
Another objection came from Jon Whetlor, who wrote: ‘Littering along the A2070 and roads around existing fast food outlets has become a significant problem, and the provision of this facility will increase litter in the area.
‘Our areas of concern would be along Barrey Road and Church Road where users of the proposed drive through may park whilst drinking coffee. ‘
Steve Campkin also suggested that Starbucks should be made to ’employ a litter picker’ if the plans were approved.
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