Work is set to start to install a drive-through Costa Coffee shop at Parc y Llyn Retail Park after planning permission was granted before Christmas despite traffic and road safety fears.

Costa Coffee submitted plans to build a new store in the corner of the existing car park near the B&M and Currys stores in June last year, with Ceredigion County Council planning officers giving the scheme the green light in December.

To accommodate the plan, 53 parking bays will be removed, and a total of 22 new parking bays will be created.

These new bays will include 19 standard parking bays, two accessible bays, and one order-waiting bay.

Planning documents said: “Consequently, there will be a net loss of 31 parking bays at the site.

“Upon reconfiguration of the car park and completion of the development proposal, there will be a total of 221 parking bays, including 14 accessible bays.”

The car park’s current confusing configuration, which sees vehicles drive around the car park before exiting, will be changed as a result of the development.

The application says the new drive-thru store will be open seven days a week between 5am and 11pm, creating 15 jobs.

Planning documents added: “Costa Coffee is the largest and fastest growing premium coffee shop brand in the UK, with over 3,000 stores.

“Its success is built on delivering a quality, authentically Italian coffee experience to its customers. The company will sell coffee and a selection of hot and cold food for consumption both on and off the premises.

“The application will deliver a contemporary drive-thru coffee facility, providing employment for 15 people (eight full-time equivalent), within an existing retail park car park in an area characterised by modern retail and service offers, segregated from residential uses, where such a use can be readily assimilated.

“This would be sustainably located within an Urban Service Centre well connected by bus and active travel routes.”

Llanbadarn Fawr Community Council objected to the scheme over “the effect on the roundabout by the petrol station”, which is “already operating close to capacity at peak times.”

The community council said a “very difficult situation has developed for Llanbadarn Fawr residents due to blockages to traffic circulation by the McDonald’s drive-thru site, and we do not wish to see something similar developing here.”

The council’s highways department lodged objections to the scheme, saying the initial application “does not adequately address the highway safety and operational risks associated with limited stacking capacity, increased junction pressure at an already constrained internal roundabout, and unresolved conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians.”

The highways department said the application could be approved if new and revised crossing points, parking facilities, and drive thru access lane including road markings were implemented.

The scheme also received letters of support from users of the retail park.

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The area where the approved drive through coffee shop will be built has been fenced off at the retail park in preparation for the scheme.