McDonald's home delivery kitchen in Sunderland faces closure after operating without planning permission for more than two years
A McDonald’s home delivery kitchen which has operated without planning permission for more than two years faces closure.
Jobs may be lost after the takeaway giant’s retrospective application for permission for its premises at the ex-Simply Local foodstore, off North Moor Road, Sunderland, was rejected.
Sunderland City Council raised fears about the kitchen “increasing the availability and ease of access to unhealthy food” on Wearside.
The premises, which also formerly operated as a Co-op food store, sit near the new retail park site off Durham Road.
Planning documents submitted to the council in summer 2025 said “McDonald’s delivery kitchen units” are not open to the public and aim to “support home deliveries”,
It was noted that the opening of a delivery kitchen was a “direct response” to “customer service / satisfaction” issues and was “aimed at relieving pressure” on the adjacent drive-thru McDonald’s restaurant.
Applicants confirmed that the McDonald’s delivery kitchen had operated “since late 2023” and that “McDelivery orders are undertaken by Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat couriers”.
Applicants said the use represented an “industrial process” including the “making, finishing, packing and adapting for sale of food products for onward distribution”.
It was noted that if retrospective plans were refused, McDonald’s would re-integrate the “delivery kitchen function” back into the adjacent restaurant and that there would be “significant” highways and road safety impacts.
These included “overspill parking onto North Moor Road” and access issues for customers and emergency vehicles.
The planning statement added the delivery kitchen had created dozens of jobs and that any “forced closure” of the unit would lead to some job losses as not all staff could be accommodated in the existing restaurant.
Sunderland City Council refused the retrospective application following an objection from the council’s public health team.
It was argued that the delivery kitchen model “fundamentally conflicts with the strategic planning objectives of the Sunderland Healthy City Plan” and would “dramatically increase the availability and ease of access to unhealthy food across the entire city, thereby exacerbating health inequalities”.
Council planners added the plans clashed with council efforts to “promote and facilitate healthier lifestyles amongst the city’s population” which displays “high levels of obesity and being overweight”.
McDonald’s comments around the “fallback position” of returning the delivery operation to the adjacent restaurant and potential “adverse” impacts on employment were acknowledged by council planners.
However they said “positive aspects” identified by McDonald’s were “not considered to outweigh the negative, population-wide health impacts arising from the development in terms of increasing the availability, convenience and geographic reach of unhealthy food in the city.”
A Sunderland City Council spokesperson confirmed there was “limited” planning case law around “standalone delivery kitchens” and that the local planning authority “wanted to be sure of its position that planning permission was required” before requesting an application from McDonald’s.
Following the planning refusal, an enforcement notice was served which “requires the use of the premises as a delivery kitchen to cease within six months” although this notice can be appealed by the applicant.
McDonald’s was approached for comment via its planning agent.
For more information, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: 25/01620/FUL