Plans for a new Starbucks drive-thru coffee shop in Highbridge have been generating mixed feedback during Somerset Council’s consultation period, which ends next week.
As first reported here last month, a planning application has been submitted to Somerset Council to develop an area of land at Oak Tree Farm next to the A38 Bristol Road in Highbridge for the new Starbucks.
Consulation on the plans is underway by the council until March 12th, 2024, and is drawing mixed local feedback.
One resident writes in support of the plans: “I look forward to the new growth this brings the town and jobs it provides the community.”
However, another resident has lodged an objection, stating: “I object to the proposal of yet another drive-through coffee establishment. There is one within a very short distance of this proposed development.”
”The litter which results from people chucking their empty cups and food wrappers from their vehicles blights the pavements and hedgerows and fills the rhynes, endangering wildlife and is quite frankly a disgusting and lazy habit.”
”In argument against the handful of jobs created by the proposal why doesn’t the council employ wardens to stop people littering and messing on pavements and verges and not bothering to pick it up.”
The developer, KMW Trading Limited and Cobra Coffee Limited, is seeking Full Planning Permission for the scheme.
The application includes formal plans for a modern new cafe and drive-thru at the site, similiar to the Dunball rounabout Starbucks which opened in 2023 (pictured above).
Highbridge’s planned 178 square metre site includes parking for 19 vehicles with two electric vehicle charging points.
The plans show the new Starbucks drive-thru is earmarked for land to the south of Highbridge’s Howdens kitchen supplies, which opened in Highbridge last year.
The application covers the “proposed construction of a drive-thru coffee shop (Use Class mixed E / sui generis) unit and all associated ground, site levels, parking, access, engineering, landscaping and drainage works.”
Consultation on the scheme – reference number 12/24/00001 – is underway and comments are being invited by Somerset Council via its planning portal until March 12th, 2024.
The site is also close to the nearby Costa Coffee drive-thru in Highbridge which opened in December 2021 and the Highbridge Travelodge hotel.
Separately, McDonald’s is still planning to build a new restaurant at the entrance on the Oak Tree Business Park site.
