You may have read in last week’s Herald that McDonald’s have applied for planning permission to build a 24/7 drive through restaurant, with 39 space car park and 12m high illuminated sign, on the Tice’s Meadow and Tongham Ponds Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), adjacent to Tongham Services on the A31/A331 roundabout.
The Tice’s Meadow Bird Group strongly object to this planning application.
The proposed site is wholly within the Tice’s Meadow and Tongham Ponds Site of Nature Conservation Interest (SNCI), a regionally important wildlife haven where over two hundred bird species have been recorded.
The SNCI is an important green corridor for wildlife and people, which has already been eroded by construction of the Tongham Services – any further development could render this vital natural artery useless, and materially harm the nature conservation interests of the SNCI.
The proposed site is also wholly within land designated as Countryside in the Guildford Borough Local Plan, which describes the area as “an important open gap between Ash and Tongham, and the town of Aldershot to the west” and providing “a green corridor and tranquil setting with considerable biodiversity value”.
The proposed development does not require a countryside location; is not proportionate to the nature and scale of the site, its setting and countryside location; and will lead to greater physical and visual coalescence between the Ash and Tongham urban area and Aldershot.
The proposed restaurant will have a significant negative impact on many sensitive and protected habitats and species through: increased disturbance; noise; visual impact; litter; odour; light pollution; and air pollution.
The developer’s planning application fails to properly address these concerns, repeatedly ignoring the presence of two nature reserves bordering the site.
The proposed restaurant, and its 12 metre-high illuminated golden arches, will be highly visible from the SNCI, the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Area of Great Landscape Value, and the local settlements at Tongham and Badshot Lea, and will have a negative affect on the amenity of both local people and wildlife.
The developer proposes to offset the damage they will cause by erecting some bird and bat nest boxes on land they own to the north of the site.
Restoration of this land to an ecology rich area was a planning condition for development of Tongham Services – three years after the services opened and it’s still not been completed.
What hope do we have that the developer will keep to any new promises they make?
We are encouraging all like minded local residents to object to the planning application via Guildford Borough Council’s planning website – reference 23/P/01831.
We have also launched a petition to reflect the strong local opposition – more than 1,100 people signed it within the first 24 hours. Please sign and share: https://chng.it/zLSS7YWKg7
If local residents, elected representatives and wildlife groups work together, we can stop this inappropriate development, and protect this important green corridor for future generations.
Tice’s Meadow Bird Group