Councillor warns of litter problem after drive-thru application submitted

A COUNCILLOR has called on planning bosses to take account of the effect a new drive-thru will have on litter in Colchester.

Gerard Oxford, borough councillor for Highwoods, said if planners give the go ahead for KFC to open the restaurant, in Ipswich Road, litter will undoubtedly increase.

A planning application has been submitted to Tendring District Council, but Mr Oxford said the plans will have more of an effect on Colchester residents.

“It may be in Tendring but it will effect Colchester’s population much more than it does theirs,” said Mr Oxford.

“I also believe, if they are minded to grant permission, KFC should be asked to enter into an agreement and help to pay the costs of collecting the extra litter, which will undoubtedly increase.”

Residents have already objected to the plans because of the effect they would have on traffic, but now Essex Wildlife Trust has been asked to check if bats living in conifer trees next to the site are a protected species.

David Haskell, whose garden backs on to the proposed site, owns the trees.

He said: “If they are protected, then we will have to take it from there but we would hope to slow KFC’s plans down.”

Comments(29)

Brooks Forbutox says...
5:05pm Tue 1 Jan 13

New line - Kentucky Fried Bat.

Joker50 says...
5:15pm Tue 1 Jan 13

People seldom win against these big companies, Mr Haskell is just being awkward wanting to slow the process down, well when KFC gets the new site up and running I will drive thru blowing my horn.

executive says...
5:31pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Litter from take-aways is not limited to the town. People collect drive and lob their rubbish out of the car window into the countyside. There should be a £1 litter pick tax on every take-away meal to pay for the council to employ more roadside litter pickers.

Say It As It Is OK? says...
5:52pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Hello....litter is caused by those who don't dispose of it irresponsibly! Why do so many people blame the fast food takeaways?

Say It As It Is OK? says...
5:53pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Sorry...those who dispose of it irresponsibly.

crazy comments says...
7:09pm Tue 1 Jan 13

executive wrote:
Litter from take-aways is not limited to the town. People collect drive and lob their rubbish out of the car window into the countyside. There should be a £1 litter pick tax on every take-away meal to pay for the council to employ more roadside litter pickers.
People that get ASBOS should be used as well.

super waluigi says...
8:10pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Say It As It Is OK? wrote:
Hello....litter is caused by those who don't dispose of it irresponsibly! Why do so many people blame the fast food takeaways?
Bingo.

Litter is down to the user.

Bigh321 says...
8:13pm Tue 1 Jan 13

I'll be visiting this bad boy when it opens, me want some chicken.

Mr Honest says...
8:25pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Gerard, you are happy to support a new skateboarding area in Colchesters last natural area, Highwoods Country Park, which will encourage lots of teenagers......and litter!

Dillinga says...
8:50pm Tue 1 Jan 13

super waluigi wrote:
Say It As It Is OK? wrote:
Hello....litter is caused by those who don't dispose of it irresponsibly! Why do so many people blame the fast food takeaways?
Bingo.

Litter is down to the user.
I have to agree, you buy the food you then become the owner of the packaging. Where the wrappers, bags and cups end up after they are purchased is soley down to the person buying the items and nothing at all to do with the seller.

Boris says...
9:37pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Dillinga wrote:
super waluigi wrote:
Say It As It Is OK? wrote:
Hello....litter is caused by those who don't dispose of it irresponsibly! Why do so many people blame the fast food takeaways?
Bingo.

Litter is down to the user.
I have to agree, you buy the food you then become the owner of the packaging. Where the wrappers, bags and cups end up after they are purchased is soley down to the person buying the items and nothing at all to do with the seller.
Which is exactly why people should have to pay a deposit for takeaway packaging, then when the owners fling it away, someone else can take possession of it, take it to any restaurant of the chain in question, and collect the money. It could become much more remunerative that doing a paper round, for example.

blackrat2 says...
9:55pm Tue 1 Jan 13

Can't wait for the KFC to open - Colchester is SO behind other towns for out of town food services. It is not practicable or cost effective to park and use the town centre establishments so I welcome any development away from the centre.

Mrs-Moan-alot says...
10:08pm Tue 1 Jan 13

surely this is a good thing seeing as its creating much needed jobs! the bats don't pay the bills but jobs do!!

Smouldering Ewok says...
1:22am Wed 2 Jan 13

Concentrate on the litter that already exists.
Good news maybe depending on how it tastes when it actually gets here.
I say this because all the takeaways down the high street suck at what they do.
Even Bangkhok can do a better Big Mac than Colchester.
Will be a nice change to get a KFC from a clean premises ie my car; yes my car is cleaner than the dirty fowl shedhole they call kfc in the high street.
I lied but you get my point i dont have a car.
No doubt KFC litter will stay in peoples cars until time is right to properly dispose of or just dump out onto a quiet road somewhere.

Dillinga says...
7:00am Wed 2 Jan 13

Boris wrote:
Dillinga wrote:
super waluigi wrote:
Say It As It Is OK? wrote:
Hello....litter is caused by those who don't dispose of it irresponsibly! Why do so many people blame the fast food takeaways?
Bingo.

Litter is down to the user.
I have to agree, you buy the food you then become the owner of the packaging. Where the wrappers, bags and cups end up after they are purchased is soley down to the person buying the items and nothing at all to do with the seller.
Which is exactly why people should have to pay a deposit for takeaway packaging, then when the owners fling it away, someone else can take possession of it, take it to any restaurant of the chain in question, and collect the money. It could become much more remunerative that doing a paper round, for example.
What utter nonsense why should I and thousands of others who are responsible and understand how to use a bin be made to pay extra for our food because a minority are too lazy to dispose of their litter correctly.

Say It As It Is OK? says...
8:45am Wed 2 Jan 13

Boris wrote:
Dillinga wrote:
super waluigi wrote:
Say It As It Is OK? wrote:
Hello....litter is caused by those who don't dispose of it irresponsibly! Why do so many people blame the fast food takeaways?
Bingo.

Litter is down to the user.
I have to agree, you buy the food you then become the owner of the packaging. Where the wrappers, bags and cups end up after they are purchased is soley down to the person buying the items and nothing at all to do with the seller.
Which is exactly why people should have to pay a deposit for takeaway packaging, then when the owners fling it away, someone else can take possession of it, take it to any restaurant of the chain in question, and collect the money. It could become much more remunerative that doing a paper round, for example.
Your idea would mean every FF outlet, including, pizza and burger bars, kebab houses, off licenses, supermarkets, petrol forecourts, convenience stores, butchers, bakers and candlestick makers (well maybe not the last one! will have to do what you propose the large FF chains do.

I don't know the answer because those who litter know they are doing it and coming down very hard with fines and community orders that require them to litter pick could work but our legal system is such that there is unlikely to be much support for such matters, which in the scale of things are not considered serious crimes.

Education doesn't seem to work for the few and until those who litter realise what they do is unsocial then the problem will persist.

Gerald Oxford made a suggestion to ensure KFC enter into an agreement and help to pay the costs of collecting the extra litter (typical comment from a politician who hasn't thought it through). The suggestion cannot be specific to KFC, every FF outlet should be treated the same way. And, if it happened we would all have to pay more to cover these costs and for what? the morons who continue to litter and who really don't care less.

totallyfootball says...
11:08am Wed 2 Jan 13

They pay them a hideous wage and then they come out with the most obvious statement in the world. Sounds like this clown has the brains of litter collector in need of a job!

JBoswick says...
11:23am Wed 2 Jan 13

I know McDonald's Cowdray have staff that do trash walks around the car park and sometimes down Cowdray Ave. With this KFC being in such a niche area, why can't they do the same??

I only see this as a good thing. Colchester are short on drive thru restaurants and it's a boost for young employment. Win-Win

Colonel Kurtz says...
11:28am Wed 2 Jan 13

Ipwich road is a long stretch. Still none the wiser where it will be but I would guess up near the Honda dealer. Can we have more clarity next time?

Colonel Kurtz says...
11:28am Wed 2 Jan 13

Ipswich road is a long stretch. Still none the wiser where it will be but I would guess up near the Honda dealer. Can we have more clarity next time?

totallyfootball says...
11:37am Wed 2 Jan 13

Colonel Kurtz wrote:
Ipswich road is a long stretch. Still none the wiser where it will be but I would guess up near the Honda dealer. Can we have more clarity next time?
Judging from the picture I think its next to the Balkernegate pub\restaurant?

Sheila White says...
12:18pm Wed 2 Jan 13

No question a drive-thru will create more litter. I'm pleased to see the councillor raise this. The Litter Prevention Program educates, advocates and teach people not to litter. Our dedicated news website is open to all and welcomes you. www.litterprevention
program.com .

newsgirl29 says...
12:50pm Wed 2 Jan 13

Whether it be a fastfood outlet, factory or call centre the residents would have complained.
In the current economic downturn any business wanting to come to Colchester is great it will bring jobs to Colchester and get some unemployed workers back into work.
The litter issue is down to the purchaser not the fast food chain. If the purchaser is to idle to deposit the litter then they should be fined (in an ideal world) and not those of us that dispose of litter responsibly. You can't impost a tax on fast food for litter thats crazy - fast food for most is a treat and is expensive enough.
Good on KFC - we have needed one for ages, we need businesses to come to Colchester.

O rly? says...
1:21pm Wed 2 Jan 13

Sod the bats, I want me some Fried Chicken!!

Fellulah69 says...
10:39pm Wed 2 Jan 13

So does that mean that the two already standing mcdonals drive-thrus we have are going to get penalised for the litter that is left in their car parks and thrown out of cars onto roads?? Its not just the public either. Overfilled and never emptied bins dont help the situation!!

Does it also mean that when cuckoo farm is turned into a park and ride and this dream of a leisure complex is built up there, that there will be no fast food places there like what has been mentioned in the plans for it??

wellnow says...
7:58pm Fri 4 Jan 13

Just make the containers edible.

B1gman says...
10:27am Sat 5 Jan 13

who gives a stuff about bats, u rearly see em as its dark anyway.
Im all behind having a drive through KFC and i live very close to the proposed site. Kfc is much better than the crap u get at Mcdonalds!

maybe we'll get a morrisons too one day :-)

Grabber says...
4:46pm Sat 5 Jan 13

wellnow wrote:
Just make the containers edible.
The contents need to be edible first !

Lord Newbold says...
5:31pm Mon 7 Jan 13

executive wrote:
Litter from take-aways is not limited to the town. People collect drive and lob their rubbish out of the car window into the countyside. There should be a £1 litter pick tax on every take-away meal to pay for the council to employ more roadside litter pickers.
@ Executive

Sir/Madam, of all the correspondence I have read over the years in connection to litter especially from take away food shops.
You have hit the nail squarely on the proverbial head surcharge each customer’s order with a percentage of the total cost to be known a litter clearance levy. Alternatively, create a greater business rate for all hot food outlets to cover the cost of keeping our streets free from discarded food cartons. It may not stop litterbugs but at least they will have paid for the privilege.

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