A SECOND McDonald's about two miles away from another has met with backlash - with a determined former city mayor launching the fight against it while seriously ill in a hospital sick bed.
Cllr Stephen Hodgson 'called in' the planning application for a McDonald's and Starbucks drive-thrus in Warndon Villages while battling pneumonia in Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
Proposals for the drive-thrus - near the roundabout where Plantation Drive meets Trotshill Way and Parsonage Way - are about two miles from McDonald's in Blackpole.
However, concerns have already been raised about boy racers meeting at the proposed site, the plight of protected bats and the proximity of existing fast food outlets, including another McDonald's drive thru in Blackpole and a KFC drive thru just off the A4440 (Hornhill Road, Nunnery Way).
Plans submitted to Worcester City Council by developers Canmoor show that the existing access to Roundhouse Way would be used for the entrance with the deadline for submissions fixed at Wednesday, May 22.
The 59-year-old former Mayor of Worcester, now recovering at home, did not let his urgent hospital stay prevent him from being the first to call in the application.
The Conservative city councillor, also vice-chair of the Health and Wellbeing Committee, believes he became ill after getting soaked during a downpour while in Anglesey, Wales.
Medics also identified he had developed a bacterial infection on the heart for which he was prescribed medication.
At one stage the Warndon Parish councillor said his temperature soared to 116 degrees Fahrenheit (47C) and he was placed in the acute respiratory unit.
Cllr Hodgson was admitted to hospital on Tuesday, April 16 after he used the NHS 111 number which led to him securing the last appointment of the day at Spring Gardens Medical Practice at 6.30pm. Medics immediately understood the urgency of the situation.
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From there he was taken to A&E by his wife, Lucy Hodgson, also a former city mayor and chair of Warndon Parish Council.
"I was feeling pretty groggy. If I had deteriorated further it would have got serious," said Cllr Hodgson, who was placed on oxygen as he fought to catch his breath.
He added: "I just called the planning application in on my mobile phone. There's patient Wi-Fi which is good. My wife told me about it while I was in my hospital bed so I just did it there and then, on the phone."
Cllr Hodgson was only discharged on April 26. Recovering at home, he said he is still too sick to go to the election count which he had been looking forward to.
The application itself is due to be discussed at the next meeting of Warndon Parish Council at Lyppard Hub in Ankerage Green at 7pm on May 13 when a formal response to the application is set to be agreed.
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