Locals will be able to have their say on McDonalds’ controversial bid for a Wānaka restaurant from this Friday (July 12). 

Plans for a Wānaka McDonald’s restaurant operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, were made public in November last year, to a divided reception from locals.

On Friday the McDonald’s resource consent application will be publicly notified, Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) confirmed today (Tuesday July 9).

This means members of the public will have the opportunity to share their views on the proposal formally by making a submission with the council.

More than 1,500 people signed the ‘Stop Wānaka McDonald’s’ petition within days of the company’s plans becoming public last year, and signatories have now increased to more than 5,500.

The company submitted a resource consent application for a 445m2 restaurant and drive-through on Wānaka’s outskirts in November last year.

Aspiring Law director Janice Hughes said a petition does not have any impact on a resource consent application, but it “might encourage people to put in a submission”.

Petition creator Sarah Morrison told the Wānaka App she planned to make a public submission and encourage other signatories to do the same.

She said McDonald’s goes against “all of our core community values”.

“Wānaka tends to pride itself on being a health and wellness-centred place… Having fast food restaurants in town directly contradicts that,” she said. 

In its application McDonald’s Restaurants (NZ) Ltd said the proposed 445m2 restaurant and drive-through, which would be located just off the SH6/SH84 roundabout, would “give rise to significant positive effects”.

They included “the development of a high-quality, architecturally-designed commercial building, which will be visually integrated within the environment” and “support for the local economy by enabling employment and increased spending in the area”.

The company has volunteered that its application be publicly notified, QLDC said.

All applicants will have to meet the information requirements of the Resource Management Act for lodging an application.

More information on the application and details on how to make a submission will be available here from Friday.

PHOTOS: Supplied