SAFETY Beach will get a McDonalds store after years of community campaigning against the fast-food giant’s attempts to establish in the town.
The move comes after the applicant AA Holdings Pty Ltd successfully appealed Mornington Peninsula Shire’s 24 August 2024 decision to deny the planning permit application to redevelop the service station on the corner of Marine Drive and Nepean Highway to include a modernised service station with a McDonalds franchise.
The battle for and against the fast-food franchise began in 2019 when the company sought approval to develop the site as a service station and drive-through restaurant (No Macca’s for Safety Beach, The News 14/12/21). Mornington Peninsula Shire refused the permit in July 2020 leading to a seven-day VCAT hearing in 2021 that resulted in a VCAT decision upholding the council’s decision.
A new planning application was lodged with the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council for the development of a petrol station/fast food complex on the corner, by the same applicant, last year (‘Village vibe’ loss fears from fast food repeat, The News 12/6/24).
The shire’s planning staff recommended permission be granted to use and develop the new facility, but after considering over 500 objections and the planning staff’s recommendation, councillors refused to grant permission on grounds relating to traffic, loading and parking as well as acoustic impacts, amenity impacts and litter.
Despite being denied a permit at VCAT before, the latest appeal pertained to a new set of plans, altered after the first VCAT loss, to include fewer fuel bowsers, changed traffic management, a smaller service station and fast-food store, and improved landscaping.
The VCAT decision, handed down on 18 July, gives the green light to the development, with a long list of conditions attached pertaining to items such as the amendment of plans, hours of operation, landscaping, amenity, signage, acoustic issues, and litter.
Although the application is for a 24-hour service station, and convenience restaurant, the dining room of the restaurant is only permitted to be in operation between 6am and midnight (or 1am during peak season). And the drive through ordering electronic devices cannot operate outside the hours of 7am and 10pm requiring drive through ordering at the window.
Pertaining to litter, a condition of the permit will be daily litter patrols that must occur in accordance with the requirements of the Convenience Restaurant Site Management Plan to the satisfaction of the Responsible Authority. The Site Management Plan stipulates that, “at least once in each day, that the convenience restaurant is open for trading to the public, the occupier must send a litter patrol to undertake collection to the satisfaction of the Responsible Authority of any litter emanating from the land which is on public roads or reserves within a 200 metre radius of the land as measured from the perimeter of the land.”
Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor, Cr Anthony Marsh told The News “VCAT’s decision to override Council is incredibly disappointing”. “Anyone who has been to that intersection during the peak summer period would know it is already a disaster. “Now that it has been approved by VCAT, it will be important for council to enforce the conditions to ensure litter doesn’t leave the site and land on our beaches.
“Some fights are worth having, and while we ultimately didn’t win this one, the process did result in improvements to the site from the initial application. “I suspect we’ll be lobbying the state government to address the traffic and congestion issues that will inevitably worsen once the new outlet is up and running.”
Local businessman Paul Whitaker, whose family have run the nearby Dromana Drive In for the last 63 years, said the decision is a disaster for the local businesses in the area, and will cause traffic chaos in peak times.
“We rely on food and beverage sales to stay afloat,” said Whitaker. “This will make it much harder for us and the many other food outlets in the area, many of whom are already doing it tough. Many of them are on a knife’s edge, and if they go under there will be more unemployment.
“But all is not lost. We can still vote with our feet. We can still, as a community, choose to support local businesses, and I would encourage everyone to do so. “I also encourage everyone to use the shire’s ap ‘Snap, Send, Solve’ to photograph any McDonalds waste in the community to hold them accountable to cleaning up after themselves.”
Chief Restaurant Officer at McDonald’s Australia, Brad McMullen, told The News “We understand why people in the community are passionate about maintaining the local appeal and small businesses in the area”. “We know some people in the community are disappointed. We know now we have to prove ourselves. “We will be looking to make a big impact, providing sponsorships to local sporting clubs, not to mention employment opportunities for up to 100 people.
“We will also work with council to ensure out store is clean and ensuring that the rubbish is cleaned up in accordance with the conditions of the VCAT decision. “We have seen in other store locations that our stores have generated increased customers into an area, and the jobs have injected more money into the local economy, the result of which being a net benefit to other businesses in the area. That is what we hope to see with our Safety Beach store.”
First published in the Mornington News – 5 August 2025
