Star City McDonald's demolition approved

Mcdonald's demolition approved but concerns over boy racers raised

Josh Horritt - Local Democracy Reporter | Monday 10th April 2023 9:19am

Plans to demolish a Mcdonald’s at a popular Birmingham retail park have been approved but concerns over boy racers remain. The demolition is part of a big redevelopment at Star City in Nechells that would see the fast-food restaurant flattened and replaced with an industrial complex.

At a Birmingham Council planning committee this morning (Thu Apr 6) councillors voted unanimously to pass the plans with ten in favour and none against. But, despite the overwhelming support a number of councillors raised concerns over boy racers and parking capacity at the Star City complex.

Councillor Lee Marsham said: “Utilising the underused car park to provide up to 250 jobs is to be welcomed and hopefully these roles will be taken up by local residents. We need to be mindful of more HGVs on local roads and we need the police to clamp down on the dangerous boy racers who often hold their meets nearby.”

Highlighting concerns over parking, Cllr Gareth Moore said: “Overall I’m supportive of the application but I was concerned about the car parking. Certainly, my experience over there at Star City is that it’s a nightmare to find a parking space because of the sheer volume of people that attend.

“I appreciate the report suggests that there is sufficient parking on site but it wasn’t quite clear as to how much has been lost or whether only that it’s going to be replaced.”

A total of 630 parking spaces would be lost in the redevelopment including part of a multi-storey car park. In their place, developers Star City Trustee Ltd are proposing “a high-quality, modern industrial and logistics development” that they say would provide hundreds of jobs and help to bring investment to Nechells Ward.

Star City was built in the year 2000 and is one of the largest family leisure complexes in the country, featuring restaurants, 25 screen cinema, bowling and other 'physical' and leisure activities. An objection to the application has been received from Abrdn, the owners of Gravelly Industrial Park, who have concerns with regard to access and traffic through their site if the proposal is approved.

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