A McDonald's restaurant plans to make its extended drive-thru opening hours permanent.

Last year, the Sandyford fast food restaurant won an appeal to open three additional hours, 11pm to 2am, seven days a week, on a 12-month trial.

Now the High Street restaurant wants to make the change permanent, meaning it would be open from 7am until 2am, seven days a week. In documents submitted to Stoke-on-Trent City Council, the fast food giant says it is not aware of 'any new disturbance or formal complaints'.

The application to extend opening hours was originally blocked by the city council to protect residential amenities. 14 members of the public objected to the plans, raising concerns over increased noise, litter, and traffic.

The refused application was then appealed to the planning inspector and objections were received from 17 members of the public, along with local councillor Chandra Kanneganti and Sandyford and Goldenhill Residents' Association.

The planning inspector ruled that the extended hours were unlikely to cause a 'significant disturbance' to neighbouring houses and noise impact assessment shows that background noise is already high in the area.

It was proposed that a condition be imposed to limit the increased trading hours for a maximum of a year to assess the effectiveness of the noise management plan.

The application to stay open later states: "As per the grant of the 2024 Permission, the drive-thru has been operating the proposed extended hours, seven days a week, since 1 July 2024.

"During this temporary period, we are not aware of any new disturbance or formal complaints that have been raised at the site as a result of the additional trading hours during the temporary period.

"The proposed hours of operation are now 'tried and tested' at the site, and the evidence shows that the additional hours of operation for the restaurant has not resulted in any significant impact on residential amenity.

"As a result, it is clear that the reason given for the temporary imposition of Condition 1 is no longer relevant.

"This application seeks permission to make permanent the extended trading hours previously approved for the restaurant, allowing it to operate between 07:00 and 02:00, seven days a week.

"No changes to the restaurant's delivery hours are proposed as part of this application. The additional hours are required to ensure that the restaurant is better able to meet the needs of its customer base and enhance the overall efficiency of the restaurant. 

"The restaurant has been operating the extended hours, seven days a week since July 2024, and there have been no unacceptable impacts on residential amenity during this time."

The application and all supporting documents can be viewed on Stoke on Trent City Council's planning portal under reference number 25/VAR/00170.

Public comments on the application can be made until 3 September. The application is currently under consideration by planning officers.