Northmead residents will soon get 24/7 access to Big Macs after a plan to extend the McDonald’s opening hours was approved – but some locals aren’t happy.
When COVID first hit, the popular Northmead McDonald’s was able to extend its hours and become a 24/7 premises between March 2020 and March 2022. Now that the trial period is over, the fast-food eatery at 225 Windsor Road is hoping to permanently return to 24/7 operational hours, seven days a week.
The application was recently discussed at a Parramatta Local Planning Panel (LPP) meeting, after the Council received a total of 14 submissions in regard to the proposal.
The LPP revealed some locals were concerned that the proposed changes would lead to an increase in noise, anti-social behaviour, odour and light pollution in the surrounding neighbourhood.
Northmead resident Gui Xiong, who is against the plans, said the Development Application (DA) is not in the interest of the local residents.
“I spoke to community members and I had a petition objecting the DA, I had a total of 38 signatures from members of the local area surrounding who did not wish for the DA to go ahead,” she said.
“There were several concerns, such as environmental factors… there were also concerns of noise and lighting.”
One LPP member raised concerns that the environment has changed since the trial during COVID and that there were a lot of restrictions on late-night partying at the time, which “might not be the case” now.
In response, a spokesperson for the applicant said the DA had been referred to NSW Police, who supported it and didn’t have any concerns.
“Council planners requested information from NSW Police in relation to that informal trading period to see if there had been any alcohol-related incidents at the site, which hasn’t occurred… there’s been no incidents of any intoxicated behaviour, anti-social behaviour,” Yannis Comino from SLR Consulting said on behalf of McDonald’s.
“If there’s loud noise in the parking area McDonald’s staff will request the customers to be quieter or move on, if there’s incidents of that progressing then it gets escalated and the store would contact the police, who [they] have a good working relationship with.”
The Hills Police Area Command also provided recommendations to help the application get approved, including raising the height of fences to help limit the impact of noise and lighting on the surrounding area.
Members of the LPP ruled that the plan would “not create adverse impacts” in the local area, unanimously approving the extension of the Northmead McDonald’s hours to 24 hours.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.