McDonald’s on Wildridings Road will build an additional drive-thru booth after the council gave planning permission to the restaurant.

Councillors narrowly approved the planning application seven votes to five after planning committee chairman councillor Colin Dudley told members the new design of the site would “improve” the traffic situation at the site.

He said: “We’re missing a trick here – what is being applied for is this restaurant owner is trying to improve a very poor situation. The current situation at this restaurant is not ideal. This application seeks to improve that situation.”

However Cllr Chris Turrell, who submitted an objection to the plans, said he was glad that Cllr Dudley noted the traffic issues at the site, but added that “residents have to note them more often.”

He continued: “McDonald’s aren’t doing this out of the goodness of their heart, they’re doing this to make money and to intensify activity.

“The busiest times will be intensified and there is a risk the queues will become longer.

“This restaurant is near a residential area next to a play-park. I think we have seen the use of this site increase to a pitch that is not sustainable.”

Councillor Isabel Mattick said she frequented the area often to go to Mill Park Pond.

She told planning committee members that parking at the site was already “crazy” and asked an officer how this application will alleviate this.

A planning officer said the introduction of the drive-thru was designed to help with traffic easing, before adding “I don’t believe this application will exacerbate the situation.”

No extra parking spaces are planned as part of the enlargement of the site, which will see an additional drive-thru booth, larger staff area and an additional 29 square meters of restaurant space.

This is despite the accompanying car park already having a “shortfall” of spaces, with a planning report noting that the site should have 70 spaces, rather than the existing 47.

Seven residents objected to the proposals before they were discussed at Bracknell Forest Council’s planning committee on Thursday, December 13.

One wrote that they were “horrified” at the plans to “extend the already intruding building.”

Yet Cllr Clifton Thompson told the committee it would be “folly not to approve it” and the application was narrowly approved.