Starbucks will not be allowed to open a new drive thru on a busy roundabout in Woodley as plans have been slammed as 'detrimental'.

Under the proposal, the new drive thru would have been built at The Point in the middle of a gyratory – a circular road that functions like a roundabout – on the A4 London Road. But plans involved demolishing two houses and replacing them with the new Starbucks.

Wokingham Borough Council planning officers said this would have a ‘detrimental impact’ on the area as it would mean building a large commercial building on existing gardens – and would be directly next to other people’s homes.

The planning officers’ decision said the Starbucks drive thru would 'appear incongruously embedded into a residential area, next to rear garden boundaries and close to houses, eroding the distinct separation between the commercial local centre and the residential area'.

READ MORE: McDonald’s drive thru plans scrapped

They added that the high level of traffic and business would ‘adversely impact’ residents’ enjoyment of their gardens.

Council officers also said the demolition of two houses would be an unacceptable loss of homes at a time when it needs to show it can supply new ones over the next five years.

They said: “The proposed development would result in the net loss of two-family size dwellings and gardens in a sustainable location within a Major Development Location at a time when the council are currently unable to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.

“The justification behind this loss of the dwellings and the subsequent erection of the commercial use does not outweigh this policy conflict or the loss of houses.”