Frankie and Benny's site in Ipswich granted major changes

Ipswich Borough Council has granted full planning permission to convert the former Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito restaurants in Ravenswood into drive-thru restaurants and make changes to the car park.

The identity of the restaurants is not known at this time.

A site visit was held earlier this month, after concerns were raised about the planning application, with issues relating to parking spaces being lost for electric vehicle (EV) charging, existing access to and from Ravenswood being perceived as inadequate and the proposal not being viable.

Residents have also suggested that the McDonald's restaurant, which is on the opposite side of the road, would be better suited to move to one of these units.

The site will also see alterations to the car park (Image: Tom Cann)

The officer inspecting the site, however, found that there is "clearly a need for more EV charging points" and with the continued use as restaurants, albeit with drive-thru lanes, it is "in keeping with the approved use of the site."

In August last year, Frankie & Benny's and Chiquito closed their sites, with the news coming as a blow to the town.

Both units are set to be smaller, with a drive thru lane being created for both sites.

There are set to be 20 electric parking bays created, featuring 10 charging stations.

These would be stationed around the outside of the car park and would change the parking layout from 95 bays to 20 electric parking bays and 47 normal parking bays.

It is not yet known which restaurants will be opening in the two units, with the area already playing host to eateries such as McDonald's, Subway, Burger King, Costa Coffee and Nando's.