Fast food giant McDonald’s has been given permission to open a drive-thru restaurant despite strong objections from residents.

The plans to build the new eatery north of Lidl on Yarm Road, Stockton attracted 48 letters of objection and 33 in support and prompted an hour-long debate at Stockton Council’s planning committee on Wednesday (October 9) afternoon. Planning officers recommended the proposal for the overgrown site for approval.

Daniel Gregg, from Lichfields on behalf of McDonald’s, said it would bring “significant benefits” including about 85 full-time jobs once the restaurant was running plus construction work, and revive a vacant brownfield site. He said opening hours had been reduced, to 6am to 12am, after consultation with residents.

He said there would be “negligible” noise impact on the nearest homes, with the site surrounded by a supermarket, a railway line and a busy road, and neither highways nor environmental health officers objected to the scheme.

However, one resident told the meeting: “Obviously there’s a lot of concerns. Traffic’s really bad to start off with. If McDonald’s comes it’s just going to get a lot worse.

“Noise pollution, the smell, the rats. You’re going to get all of the toerags from Yarm Road coming up our estate.

“It’s a lovely estate. We do litter picks, and community events, all of this will be spoilt by a McDonald’s being there.

“This is our house, this is our place, and you want to put a drive-thru McDonald’s there to disrupt everything. Yes it’s going to create new jobs, I can totally get that, but what about our nice estate?

“There’s three McDonald’s within a five-minute drive. Why do you need another one?

“It’s our community. I can’t speak for everybody but I can speak for a lot of people – we don’t want this. I think the only people that want this are the young people.”

Ropner ward’s two Conservative councillors, Sufi Mubeen and planning committee member Shakeel Hussain, both raised concerns. Cllr Mubeen said: “I have spoken to many residents who are of the strong opinion that the applicant does not care that the area of the proposal will be a magnet for crime and anti-social behaviour, and are only interested in making a financial return.”

He also linked the planning application to problems with sex workers in the Yarm Road area, but committee chair Cllr Mick Stoker, Labour member for Billingham East, said: “There’s no link between McDonald’s and sex workers.”

He accused Cllr Mubeen of using the planning meeting to “solve your own ward situation”. In a series of tense exchanges, Cllr Mubeen asked the chair: “Are you chairing the meeting or are you dictating to us?”

Cllr Hussain said they believed the McDonald’s would worsen crime problems, create “a hub for people to go to and do whatever they do on Yarm Road”, and asked about gates to stop people using it as “a den or a haven to go and ply their trade”.

He proposed for the closing time to be brought forward to 10pm to match Lidl, but this suggestion split the committee 7-7 and was defeated by the chair’s casting vote.

Principal planning officer Elaine Atkinson said: “There’s no direct evidence between anti-social behaviour and any form of fast food restaurant, that we could refuse this application upon. It’s all down to good management and Cleveland Police will be involved in designing out crime.

“There’s no plans for a gate. The police have said it’s fairly well lit. There is a condition already to cover that.”

Cleveland Police said such premises had “the potential to generate large amounts of anti-social behaviour, however, properly managed, with robust procedures in place, these issues can be significantly reduced”. They did not object.

Cllr Eileen Johnson, Labour member for Norton South, said: “My view is that this would actually be a deterrent because it’ll be busy, people will be moving around it. If it’s got good CCTV and if it’s very well lit, I can’t see it being anything but a deterrent to anti-social behaviour on this site.”

Cllr Tony Riordan, Conservative member for Norton North, asked about the possibility of traffic queues, backlogs and obstruction around the supermarket: “I know these sites when they’re open, there’s almost an urgent need for everybody to visit all at once.” Highways officer Martin Parker replied: “The maximum queue in McDonald’s itself is 13 vehicles and that can be accommodated within the actual site layout.

“It’s a one-way system. I can’t see any conflict. The queues can be contained within the site.”

Cllr Barry Woodhouse, Labour member for Billingham Central, said: “When I first saw this plan I thought it probably isn’t going to work, until I realised there’s about 70m of tailback before you enter the drive-thru, which is a heck of a distance. I can’t honestly see how it’s going to back up on to the road.

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“As for the location, to be honest it’s better there than in the middle of the town, in my opinion.”

Cllr Norma Stephenson, Labour member for Hardwick and Salters Lane, said she had a McDonald’s near a Tesco and two housing estates in her ward: “I’ve never known McDonald’s to cause any sort of a traffic jam. I’m quite pleased with that layout and I think it will work.”

Cllr Hussain was the only member of the committee to vote against the plans, which were approved 10-1 with conditions, some added by councillors covering fencing, CCTV and traffic management.