Locals have been expressing their views on the prospect of a McDonald’s fast food restaurant in Wānaka in a novel way in the lead up to a hearing on the issue.

Independent commissioners will have the final say at the end of this month on whether McDonald’s Restaurants NZ can set up a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week restaurant and drive-through at Mt Iron Junction.

Meanwhile, some locals have parked a trailer at a lay-by adjacent to Mt Iron roundabout (opposite where the McDonald’s restaurant proposed site) with a sign proclaiming ‘Wānaka welcomes McDonald’s’. 

Signs at the Mt Iron roundabout at the beginning of the week. PHOTO: Supplied

Soon after, a second trailer appeared, with a larger sign saying: ‘McDs not welcome’. By Tuesday morning, an even larger sign had appeared next to the ‘Wānaka welcomes McDonald’s’ trailer, reading: ‘JOKES we dont’ [sic].

During public consultation earlier this year 340 people made submissions opposing a Wānaka McDonald’s and just 21 made submissions in support of it.

Another 5,000 or so opposed it in an online petition.

Read more: Maccas proposal vetoed by QLDC planner

More than 100 submitters plan to speak at the upcoming hearing, which will begin on November 25.