BURGER giant McDonald’s has been granted permission to increase the hours of service at one of its Swindon restaurants.

The fast-food chain put forward an application to Swindon Council’s planning committee to allow its restaurant in Great Western Way to trade for 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The application was submitted by local franchisee Paul Booth, who owns eight McDonald’s restaurants across Swindon and Cirencester, and it is expected to create 10 extra jobs before Christmas.

Mr Booth, who opened his first McDonald’s franchise in Swindon in 2001, already has one 24-hour restaurant at Greenbridge Retail park.

The restaurant will go 24-hour on Monday, December 10, although the change in trading will only be in place for a 12-month trial to see how it affects sales.

Mr Booth met with the community and customers to discuss the proposals and 971 people signed an in-restaurant petition, supporting the plans to open longer.

A briefing letter was also hand-delivered to the nearest 500 residential properties.

The restaurant successfully varied its opening hours in 2010, allowing it to trade between the hours of 5am and midnight seven days a week.

Mr Booth said: “I am pleased to announce that as of Monday my restaurant on Great Western Way will be open to our customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Extending the opening hours of the restaurant will bring more investment to the town and create around 10 additional jobs, both full and part time, for people living in the area.

“We carried out a large consultation period before submitting our application and we had no negative feedback which is a good sign.

“New employees will have access to McDonald’s leading training and development programmes, as well as the opportunity to gain nationally recognised qualifications ranging from adult certificates in maths and English to a foundation degree in managing business operations.”