A Costa Coffee drive-thru could be built on one of the last undeveloped plots on Medway City Estate. The plans, put forward by Goldex Investments, seek permission to open a drive-thru off Anthonys Way, behind the McDonald's drive-thru and Co-op petrol station. It will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and would cater for dine-in customers with seating across two floors, including an outdoor seating area, as well as takeaway. The drive-thru coffee shop will provide 30 car parking spaces, two of which will be disabled parking bays. One of the submitted planning documents says: "The proposed drive through coffee shop will provide the surrounding industrial and office accommodation with an alternative establishment where they can purchase snacks and hot beverages thus providing more choice to persons working on Medway City Estate which, in turn, will reduce the need for driving off the estate during peak times." The planning application also seeks permission to build a two-storey warehouse next to the drive-thru for the storage and distribution of classic cars. The warehouse will be open 8am to 6pm Monday to Sunday. This element of the scheme is set to include 18 car parking spaces, two of which will be for disabled users only.
Both the classic car warehouse and the Costa Coffee drive-thru will be accessible from Terance Butler Avenue only. The fresh plans for the Costa Coffee drive-thru comes just as the applicant Goldex Investments, the UK's largest Costa Coffee franchise chain, reopened its expanded branch in Gillingham High Street after a £300,000 revamp. Goldex's other Costa branches in Medway are located in Rochester High Street and Rochester Riverside, on Cory's Road. You can have your say on the planning application by submitting a comment on Medway Council's planning portal here. A 261-space car park in Chatham town centre has reopened after months of sitting empty. The multi-storey car park in Rhode Street, near the High Street, has been taken on by new operator YourParkingSpace after NCP quit from its lease. NCP's decision led to the sudden closure of the car park on 28 September last year and left it disused for several months. As part of the reopening a new Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system has been installed in the car park. Motorists now have the choice of paying at the car park or after they leave by paying online or using a mobile phone app, with the company using the ANPR technology to determine the correct fee. In addition to hourly and daily parking, the operator also allows monthly subscription plans. The car park is part of plans for the redevelopment of the Trafalgar Centre, which sits next to it.
The disused shopping centre is earmarked to make way for 200 flats, creative arts studios and co-working offices. As part of the plans, 191 of these spaces will be retained with 98 permits available to residents. Aylesford-based Terance Butler Holdings (TBH) are behind the proposals after it purchased the empty shopping centre and the multi-storey car park for £2.87 million in June 2020. The car park is open 7am-9pm on weekdays & Saturdays and 9am-6pm on Sundays. |
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August 2023
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