Dear Friends of Tice's Meadow,

There's now only two weeks left until Guildford Borough Council's internal deadline to decide on the proposed McDonald's drive-thru at Tice's Meadow Nature Reserve, and the expiry date of the planning application (30th April).

Following McDonald's submitting revised plans in March, the Environment Agency have reiterated their objection to the proposed development on two grounds: flood risk and environmental assessment.

Flood Risk

The EA states that McDonald's have failed to submit an acceptable Flood Risk Assessment, and that they have failed to take into account the impacts of climate change. The EA also highlights that McDonald's are claiming that flood compensation measures installed as a condition of the service station planning application will also serve their development.

Ecological Assessment

The EA states that McDonald's ecological assessment has not taken into account the "significant nature conservation value associated with the wider site", and that McDonald's "has not provided an assessment of risk or evaluated the potential impacts of this development on the species that use this site".

The EA also highlights that McDonald's have undertaken no ecological assessment of the proposed outfall discharging into the river blackwater, and associated works.

The EA strongly recommends that McDonald's undertakes a Biodiversity Net Gain assessment, using a baseline from before 2019 when the site was cleared by the developers of the Tongham service station, and subsequently allowed to decline.

The planning application can still be objected to - please consider adding your objection to the 155 already received: Guildford BC Planning Portal.

Please also continue to share our petition - we've almost reached 6,000 signatures!

Thank you for your support of Tice's Meadow Nature Reserve.