Plans to improve Buck Barn service station
The Benefits
Buck Barn is a popular local destination and welcomes thousands of local residents and visitors a year to the existing McDonald’s and petrol station shop, which share a single building.
Redeveloping the site would help to respond to local concerns over road safety, reduce congestion, and increase parking and bin provision with the aim of reducing local littering.
In a small way, it would also help Horsham rise to the challenge of the climate emergency by creating a carbon net zero McDonald’s, alongside new retail operations.
Improving highway safety
It is recognised that the current access to the existing services site is complicated. Due to the petrol station and McDonald’s sharing a building, and with currently only 47 car spaces, it means the site cannot operate successfully. As a result, there is often conflict between vehicles entering, exiting and circulating around the site and disruption to the highway network at certain peak times.
The proposals address this by focusing on highways improvements by altering the access, separating the retail buildings, redesigning the on site road layout and increasing the number of parking spaces by 89 to a total of 136 spaces. In addition, the capacity of the new McDonald’s drive-thru lane has been increased to ensure there is no impact on the internal access road or A24.
Improved access to the site
Access to the existing services is via a slip road from the A24 Northbound (inbound only) and via an all-traffic movements signalised junction on the A272.
The A24 currently carries an average of 30,354 vehicles per day (two way). The northbound off slip access to the site is currently only 58m in length and this does not comply with current highways standards, which requires it to be 80m in length. It is proposed to improve the existing slip road from the A24 and provide an auxiliary lane of 80m to meet current highway standards.
The access to the services onto the A272 is located 50m to the west of the A272/A24 signal junction. The access from the A24 is located 66m south of the A272/A24 signal junction.
The A272 meets the A24 at a four arm signalised junction. The existing signalised all movements access from the A272 would be retained.
Better on site traffic management
Currently 40% of the visits to the service station are to the petrol station forecourt, a further 50% are McDonald’s customers and the remaining 10% are linked to other activities.
The current McDonald’s drive-thru has a lane capacity for eight vehicles and this would be increased to help with the flow of traffic on site. The proposed Costa Coffee would have a drive-thru capacity of 11 vehicles, in line with its other operations across the country.
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Traffic management at the current site is an issue.
It is proposed to retain the access from West Chiltington Lane and slightly relocate the current access off Worthing Road to allow for better traffic flow in, around and through the site. The management of traffic would be improved by a central roundabout to help direct vehicles to the proposed units and car parking.
The proposed layout for the development would utilise as much of the existing site as possible, and improve the traffic flow and capacity of the site, while at the same time maximising the natural landscaping.
The current layout of the site makes it difficult for visitors to find parking spaces leading some to use the verges and areas not earmarked for parking.
The proposals incorporating new drive-thru facilities across the site would increasing the number of parking spaces from 47 to 132 – up by 280%. This would help to resolve current critical traffic issues and reduce any future traffic-related problems, improving internal circulation and reducing impacts on the A272 and A24.
New footpaths and a zebra crossing within the site would improve safety for visiting pedestrians. A new bus stop on the site, designed to improve accessibility, would also be provided (subject to agreement from the Local Authority) as the existing one to the north of the site has no layby or footpath and would also act as a loading bay during out of shop operating hours.
Improving the site’s environmental performance
The current petrol station and McDonald’s on the site were built in the early 2000s and, despite their age, are significantly below the environmental performance that would be expected today.
The proposed development of the 118-seater McDonald’s restaurant and drive-thru (current one is 90-seater), and the Costa Coffee drive-thru would deliver a net reduction in water consumption on the site thanks to the adoption of innovative greywater recycling and water use reduction methods.
Each of the proposed drive-thru units would incorporate high performance building materials and construction methods, with the McDonald’s achieving the carbon net zero standard. The façade of the McDonald’s would be clad in highly sustainable materials used on some of the company’s recently completed pioneering UK schemes. Solar panels will be incorporated onto the roof of the new building.
As part of its ‘Planet Positive’ strategy, the new McDonald’s restaurant and drive-thru will incorporate the following:
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The drive-thru will be constructed with rubber crumbed asphalt with strategic points, such as tight bends, order pay and pick up, being a low carbon concrete mix. The drive-thru lane will therefore be made from recycled car tyres
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Recycled plastic kerbs are to be used
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Rainwater harvesting will be included
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Local building materials will be used where they are available
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It will be built with minimum use of carbon intensive materials
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Internal signs will be made from used coffee beans
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The cladding will recycle old white goods
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Incorporate solar panels across the whole roof
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Operate using energy efficient LED lighting
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Use high performance insulation, using British wool
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Air source heat pumps will be installed
The new McDonald’s will achieve a ‘A’ energy performance rating and be Net Zero.
The proposed Costa Coffee operation will use 100% green energy and lighting will be 100% LED. A smart meter and individual circuit sub-metering will help monitor how much power each piece of equipment uses throughout the day.
As a company, Costa Coffee holds the Carbon Trust triple standard for waste, water and carbon energy-efficient equipment and currently diverts 76% of its waste from landfill with 60% being recycled, and they are working on the remainder.
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The proposals include replacing the existing electrical substation to enable adequate power supply for anticipated EV charging points within the overflow carpark next to the car wash.
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Relocating the existing McDonald’s
The proposals would see the relocation of the existing McDonald’s to the south of the site to create a new 356m2 restaurant with drive-thru unit, up from 340m2. The new restaurant would have 45 car parking spaces, up from 31 on the current site, including two disabled spaces, three grill bays where customers wait for their orders to be completed, and eight cycle parking spaces, plus four staff parking spaces.
The current low-voltage electricity transmission line that crosses the site will be relocated to avoid any interference with the site’s proposed new layout and operation.
New retail offering
The smaller single storey café and drive-thru unit, operated by Costa Coffee, would expand the retail offering to customers beyond that provided by McDonald’s customers or within the retail unit at the existing petrol station.
The standard Costa Coffee building design has been enhanced to incorporate passive solar design, with differing louvred sunshades on key elevations addressing various sun angles. Solar PV arrays will also be added to the roof and sustainable materials used in its construction.
At 167m2 in size, the additional drive-thru unit would be located to the north-west of the site and offer eight cycle parking spaces, plus a further 23 car parking spaces nearby including two disabled spaces and 1 grill bay for waiting customers.
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Upgrading the existing petrol station and forecourt
The current main building, which is shared between the petrol station and McDonald’s, would be retained and modified.
By removing the existing McDonald’s there is the opportunity to increase the forecourt retail offering and update its appearance. It would also make it possible to add a further eight car parking spaces, making a total of 55 car parking spaces, including eight disabled bays.
The existing forecourt
Improved car wash
The existing car wash operation would be relocated to the south-west of the site to maximise the forecourt space of the current petrol fuelling station. An additional 20 car spaces would be provided to the north of the car wash.
Enhancing the site’s ecology and biodiversity
New trees – all native species – would be planted to replace those that would need to be lost to accommodate the new road network and meet the new biodiversity standards required of development.
The landowner has commissioned an ecological appraisal of the site. It will classify the habitats present, highlight the site’s potential to support protected species, and recommend suitable avoidance, mitigation, compensation and ecological enhancement measures where appropriate.
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When successfully implemented, these recommendations will ensure the development goes way beyond the requirements of all relevant laws pertaining to protected species and habitats, as well as contributing to an increase in the site’s biodiversity – this will be a 'best in class' development. A report will be submitted as part of the application.
The team has taken care to select a lighting solution that will greatly reduce light spillage and glare around the site’s boundaries and prevent sky glow and its impact on wildlife.
Current lighting on the forecourt
Screening for Buck Barn bungalows
Careful attention would be paid to screen the residents of the nearby Buck Barn bungalows by retaining existing trees and using a densely designed vegetation buffer. This tree screen would be extended all the way down the western and southern perimeter of the site, finishing in the south eastern corner.
The lighting of the proposed redevelopment will ensure the immediate environment has been protected including the adjacent Buck Barn bungalows.