A drive-through restaurant is set to open on a £10 million trade park built on the site of a former sewage-treatment facility, it has been revealed.

Up to 50 jobs are set to be created at the 3.5-acre site off Sturry Road, Canterbury.

Bosses from Glenbeigh Developments say they are set to strike a deal with a national fast-food chain in the next two weeks.

The plot, which was part of the Southern Water sewage works, has become increasingly unsightly through years of inactivity – but the company insists it could be transformed by the end of next year.

Glenbeigh director Colin Whelan said: “The entire site will probably employ about 40 or 50 people.

“Town centre retail is suffering enormously, but out-of-town trade is becoming more popular because they’re away from dense areas.

“Over the course of the next 12 months, the site will be built out. It’s finally come together.”

Plans to transform the wasteland, which originally formed part of the Southern Water sewage works, have been in the pipeline for more than a decade.

Glenbeigh first launched a bid to build the six-unit trade park in 2009.

It was later given the green light, and a variety of successful applications were lodged with Canterbury City Council in 2012, 2015 and 2018.

And latest plans submitted to the local authority show one of the units will be occupied by national firm Storage King.

“This is the first of three new applications,” Mr Whelan added.

“The second and third will be for a drive-through food outlet – I can’t say the name of the operator until they’ve exchanged – and a trade counter, which we don’t expect to have problems attracting businesses with.

“The deal for the drive-through is very close now. It’s a national operator.”

The mystery restaurant chain will be positioned just over the road from a branch of McDonald's and about 300 metres from a KFC.

Mr Whelan had originally intended on launching a car showroom on the site, but scrapped those plans following a slump in the motor industry, made worse by Covid.

“The development will vastly improve that section opposite the Park and Ride no end,” Mr Whelan continued.

“It’s been a poor-looking site for a considerable number of years.”

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