Pearl Court resident Susan White told the Central Western Daily she thinks council, who currently own the proposed development site, has chosen “money over safety”.

Mrs White said she hopes people opposed to the development, on the corner of Farrell Road and Telopea Way, make their concerns known to Orange councillors who will vote on the development at Tuesday night’s Sustainable Development Committee (SDC) meeting.

“I’m disappointed about this, lives are at risk,” Mrs White said.

Mrs White said even if all of the councillors do give the development the go-ahead, there are safety issues that have to be addressed.

“This corner needs to be fixed,” she said.

Mrs White said if McDonalds does open at the intersection, pedestrians will be at greater risk than they are now and the volume of traffic and the number of accidents will increase.

In a flyer that’s been distributed throughout North Orange, residents have been urged to “give up an hour of your time” to attend Tuesday’s meeting and support “a group of Orange ratepayers [who] will be expressing concerns on behalf of all citizens who use this intersection”.

Council received 77 submissions on the development, with many of them expressing concern over traffic congestion, safety issues and the fact that the restaurant would be out of character for the area.

Many of the submissions claimed it was “inappropriate” to have a fast food chain in such close proximity to two childcare areas and a “progressive residential area”.

Another submission suggested the location of the outlet would encourage semi trailers to park on the Northern Distributor, increasing the risk of accidents.

Others suggested having a fast food outlet in the area would decrease the value of land and houses in the vicinity and also increase the level of noise pollution.

tracey.prisk@fairfaxmedia.com.au