A Planning Inspector has allowed a section 78 appeal on 24 March 2026 by McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd and granted planning permission for a restaurant, drive-through facility and car parking at the former Bingley police station site in West Yorkshire. The local planning authority, the City of Bradford Metropolitan Council, had refused planning permission in September 2025.

The Inspector found that there were no highway safety concerns which justified refusing planning permission. He also found that there would be no congestion of such a severity to materially harm the wider highway network. He further concluded that the proposed vehicle parking provision accorded with the development plan, and that the removal of on-street parking spaces would accord with the policy requirement to encourage a shift towards sustainable travel modes. Additionally, the Inspector concluded that there was also no basis to refuse the appeal on health grounds. Moreover, the Inspector found that the wider benefits (including employment, an increase in expenditure locally, the use of a previously developed site and the general charitable work undertaken by McDonald’s) all weighed in favour of granting planning permission.

Overall, the development accorded with the development plan read as a whole and represented sustainable development which accorded with the NPPF.

James Pereira KC and Mark O’Brien O’Reilly, instructed by Lichfields, advised McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd at both the application and appeal stage.