A fourth McDonald's could open in Ashford if plans for a drive-thru restaurant next to the town's landmark 'tank roundabout' are approved.

The fast-food giant wants to turn a plot of undeveloped land off the notoriously busy Chart Road into a 136-seater site, creating more than 65 jobs.

McDonald's chiefs submitted a planning application to Ashford Borough Council last week having first discussed their plans with the authority in January.

If given the green light, it will open in 2022, joining other outlets in the high street, Eureka Leisure Park and Orbital Park industrial estate.

In 2017, KentOnline revealed how McDonald's was keen to open another branch in the town and confirmed it was in talks with developers about where to build the site.

It has now chosen the plot next to the 'tank roundabout' which will be accessed via Bridge Road, featuring 53 car parking spaces including two disabled bays.

In a statement submitted with the planning application, McDonald's says the site represents an "appropriate location" for a 24-hour drive-thru restaurant.

"Ashford is served by a McDonald's within the town centre, at Eureka Park to the north and the Orbital Park to the south east.

"This proposal seeks to provide a drive-thru to the west of the town."

McDonald's bosses are proposing a pedestrian entrance from Carlton Road and an outdoor 4.5-metre-high children's play area.

In the planning application, a transport statement mentions how Chart Road is set to become a dual carriageway between the tank and Matalan roundabouts.

But the scheme has been delayed until at least 2022 - despite scores of trees being felled in 2018 to make way for the project.

In the application, it says the £26m scheme is not expected to be completed until 2024 as the Chilmington Green housing estate developers are yet to stump up a security bond.

As covered on KentOnline last year, a planning condition states the developer's money will be released once 400 homes are occupied at Chilmington.

McDonald's says the development will produce "no material traffic or transportation impacts", adding "there is no reason why the application should not be recommended for approval on highways grounds".

Although affectionately known as the 'tank roundabout', the five-arm junction is in fact home to an armoured fighting vehicle which served in Germany during the Cold War.

It then was deployed on Operation Granby during the first Gulf War before being sent to Bosnia during the crisis there.

It has sat on the centre of the roundabout for many years and was restored in 2014 by teams from the 133 Field Company REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) based at the town's Army Reserve Centre.

Ashford had previously been home to four McDonald's but its Designer Outlet branch closed in January 2018 and did not return when the site's £90m expansion opened.

In June, plans to knock down the former Lipscomb dealership close to the planned McDonald's site were approved.

A complex comprising 65 flats will be built on the site after councillors lauded the promise of affordability.

And in August, KFC revealed plans to open its fourth outlet in Ashford, earmarking a spot on the Waterbrook Park estate for a drive-thru facility.

To view the plans, visit www.ashford.gov.uk and search for planning reference 20/01306/AS. The deadline for public comments is Sunday, October 25.

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