CONTROVERSIAL plans for a new drive through restaurant and cafe have been given the green light.

The Glasgow Times has told how locals have begun a campaign to see off the creation of a new Starbucks and Burger King in the north of Glasgow.

But planning permission was granted for the scheme yesterday by city planning bosses.

It comes as the Scottish Greens in Glasgow lodged a motion asking council officers to bring forward plans to look at making the city the first in the UK to ban new drive throughs.

Glasgow has one of the highest rates of these types of restaurants in Britain.

Councillor Martha Wardrop said the step could be taken using planning policies, bylaws or other means and said the council should look at the issue by the end of the year.

She said: “Scottish Greens Councillors called for new planning restrictions that could see Glasgow lead the rest of the UK in curbing drive through restaurants and requiring climate health warnings to be added to petrol and diesel pumps, ahead of the city hosting the COP26 climate summit in November this year.

“With COP26 billed as the last chance for tackling climate change, infrastructure that entrenches car use, thus increasing emissions and making conditions for walking and wheeling less attractive, is not conducive with achieving climate targets.”

Work began in July to prepare the ground next to Thornwood roundabout and Castlebank Street for the new Starbucks and Burger King.

An initial planning application submitted in 2018 and granted in October last year aimed to build a two storey KFC along with the Starbucks. 

A revised planning application was submitted this year, changing the scheme from the KFC to a one storey Burger King. 

Owners had started work under the first planning consent, and removed 40 trees from the site, which is less than two miles from where COP26 will be held in November. 

Love Thornwood, a local group, has opposed the work, and local politicians Carol Monaghan MP and Bill Kidd MSP have been highly critical of the environmental and traffic impact of the new development.

The council’s planning website shows that full planning permission for the revised scheme was granted yesterday.

A condition of the planning approval is that any trees that die or are removed at the site in the next five years must be replaced by those of similar size and species.

It says the restaurant and cafe will not be able to operate 24 hours and will be restricted to the hours of 7am until midnight.

Deliveries will only be allowed to be made from 7am until 10pm and outdoor seating will also be minimised to those hours to protect local residents from noise at unsocial times.