A ‘Say No to McDonald’s’ campaign has been launched after plans were revealed for a  new 24-hour restaurant near Hilperton.

People living locally are now being urged to attend a public meeting on August 1 to voice their opposition to plans for a drive-thru close to the A361 at Paxcroft Mead.

Hilperton Parish Council has called an extraordinary parish council meeting on Tuesday, August 1 at Hilperton Village Hall to discuss the plans.

But residents will be able to voice their concerns at a public meeting beforehand starting at 6pm.

Some locals have already put together a ‘Say No to McDonald’s in Hilperton’ poster which is being circulated around the village.

It contains four QR codes for them to register their objections to the four planning applications submitted for the proposed site.

Locals fear that point-to-point racing will centralise on Hilperton as it would be the only 24-hour McDonald’s locally and say there will be increased traffic on village B roads to avoid the site.

In addition, Cresswell Drive and Helpswell Road residents will use Lacock Gardens as an additional route to avoid the main road traffic.

They also claim the local bat population will be affected due to 24-hour lighting and continuous noise from the site and that there will be an increased risk of rats from litter discarded in residential areas.

Celia Beckett, chair of Hilperton Area Action Group - a parish council working party set up to protect the village's identity - said: “The outline plan online does not comply with the Bat Mitigation Strategy.

“As the site is next to the byway that comes up from Green Lane Wood and very close to the red zone where there is no building allowed we will have lots to comment on.

“This is only in the very preliminary stage so nothing has been agreed.”

McDonald’s Restaurants Ltd wants to build a 356 square metre freestanding restaurant with a drive-thru facility on land to the east of Hilperton Drive and the A361 roundabout.

It would also include parking spaces for up to 45 vehicles and eight bicycles, landscaping and associated works, plus customer order displays and an indoor ‘Playland’ play frame for children.

The new facility would employ 30 full-time and 90 part-time staff, equivalent to 62 people full-time, and is likely to open 24-hours a day.

The site is currently owned by Gallagher Estates of Warwick.

Plans for a filling station next to the proposed drive-thru formed part of an earlier proposal which has since been dropped.

Local resident David Corless said: “It's vital that these applications are opposed by as many local residents as possible.

“It is not included within the revised local plan draft (as just published), and it will undoubtedly create more traffic and litter.

“For these reasons (and probably more) it should be opposed and the more letters to that effect the better.”

The East Finchley, London-based company, submitted its plans on July 4 through its agent, Benjamin Fox, of Planware Ltd in Bury St Edmunds.

They follow a strong campaign by residents in Trowbridge to stop a McDonald’s restaurant being built in the Tesco superstore car park off County Way.

The main application is accompanied by three separate planning applications for fascia signage and totem displays for the new restaurant.

The consultation deadlines for these are August 10, August 11 and August 18 with decisions to be made by September 1.

Residents have until August 18 to comment on the main application. Wiltshire Council hopes to make a decision by October 10.