A new McDonald’s restaurant will be open all hours in a Carmarthenshire town where it was claimed you can’t buy a bottle of milk after midnight!

The drive-through restaurant in the car park of the Tesco superstore in Ammanford has planning permission and is being built, but licensing approval for late-night refreshment between the hours of 11pm and 5am was required.

Councillors on a licensing sub-committee heard from objectors who were concerned about the planned 24/7 operating schedule and potential anti-social behaviour, noise and litter problems.

They also heard from a barrister on behalf of McDonald’s and council licensing officer Emyr Jones.

Mr Jones said the drive-through restaurant would be a short walk from Quay Street and Wind Street, which have been listed as hotspots for alcohol-related crime and disorder, in the town centre.

He said the applicant had agreed to 10 operating conditions. These include staff checking for nuisance activity in the restaurant car park at least once every hour, a phone number for the public to call at night in case of concerns, and at least three litter patrols per day. The litter patrol plan will be available for inspection by council and police officers.

Objector Kylie Evans said she was worried about the new venue causing noise and litter and attracting “racers” who would loiter around. Ammanford, she said, wasn’t a “24/7 town”. She said: “You would not be able to buy milk anywhere after midnight, but you can get a McDonald’s – seems rather odd.”

Another objector, Sian Hodder, said she agreed with Ms Evans and added that she would like McDonald’s to employ a security guard on Friday and Saturday nights if it was to operate 24/7.

A third objector, who has asked not to be named, said she was worried about “pop” exhausts and loud car music and wouldn’t want to wake up finding litter, leftover food or vomit on her doorstep. She said she was “hugely disappointed” at the proposed 24/7 operation, and added: “I’m sure that people have sufficient food at home.”

Barrister Leo Charalambides, on behalf of McDonald’s, said matters such as the need for the venue were not licensing matters and that planning permission setting out a proposed 24/7 operation was in place.

Mr Charalambides said McDonald’s had a well-tested operating schedule which included a team based in Scotland who could help restaurant staff worried about safety by broadcasting messages in “a booming voice” on a tannoy. He said they could also switch off a restaurant’s wi-fi and change the music.

“It’s regrettable and rather a sad fact that if you put classical music on it tends to disperse people,” he said.

Mr Charalambides said litter was a concern and that McDonald’s staff usually did four litter picks per day, from sunrise to sunset, and also undertook community litter picks in nearby areas. “We consider ourselves one of the industry leaders in litter picks,” he said.

The sub-committee retired to consider the evidence and then decided to grant the premises licence, meaning the drive-through will operate 24/7 and that the 10 conditions must be adhered to.

Previously, the planning application for new McDonald’s led to 206 objections and 99 expressions of support. It was approved by the council’s planning committee last year with conditions, although it was considered for “call-in” for a while in by Welsh ministers.

There were also several written objections to the recent licensing application. The nearest McDonald’s to Ammanford currently is six miles away in Cross Hands.