Burger King wants to move into Crowborough, Crowborough News can reveal.
The fast food giant plans to install a new take-away with some indoor seating at the Morrisons petrol station site in Beacon Road.
But the proposals are already facing opposition with more than a dozen letters of objection received in the first week claiming it will cause noise, litter, extra traffic, and anti-social behaviour while damaging local businesses and affecting the Heather View Care home next door.
Plans to double the size of the Morrisons shop at the petrol station were approved in June. Now it appears that extension is to accommodate a Burger King outlet.
This, the new planning application says, would “cater for motorists who wish to purchase food ‘on-the-go’ but it will also include an indoor seating area giving customers the opportunity to consume their purchased goods on the premises.”
The new Burger King would be linked to the existing Morrisons shop through a new opening. The extension would more than double the size of the building from 75 square metres to 160 square metres.
The previously agreed proposal for the building extension, which remains in the new Burger King application, would see the removal of the existing jet washes on the site which would be replaced with four parking spaces.
Letters already received by Wealden District Council have raised numerous concerns. One says the plan is “entirely inappropriate for this location” and “would have a severe and detrimental impact on the health, safety, and amenity of the local community.”
The opponent added that as the Crowborough area and East Sussex as a whole has significantly higher rates of overweight and obese adults than the national average. “Introducing a new fast-food outlet would exacerbate this existing public health crisis.”
Other responses have raised fears about the impact on local residents, particularly for residents in the adjacent Heather Care Home. And issues such as extra traffic, noise, smells, anti-social behaviour and litter, have also been raised, as well as concern about the impact a new Burger King would have on existing local takeaway businesses.
But the applicant insists the “food to go” outlet will cater primarily for users of the petrol filling station and therefore would not generate a material increase in new trips on the local highway network.
“The number of ‘new’ trips generated by the site whose sole destination is the food to go outlet will be minimal and would not have a material impact on the operation of the site or local highway network.
“It would therefore generate 6 new two-way trips during the weekday peak hours and 8 new two-way trips during Saturday peak hour. The remaining trips to the outlet during these peak periods would be a combination of diverted trips and shared trips, and thus already present on the local highway network.”
The scheme will provide an adequate level of car parking, according to the applicant, who has also provided planners with a detailed environmental noise survey which, following noise mapping, concludes the new Burger King would have a low impact. “Noise levels from the proposed plant fall within acceptable limits.”
Residents have until 22 September to give their views on the plan which can be found at https://planning.wealden.gov.uk/Planning/Display/WD/2025/1611/F