Delight at takeaway refusal

Campaigners who won their fight to stop another takeaway opening in Chadsmoor have voiced delight at the decision to throw out the plans.

Almost 300 people put their names to the battle to stop an empty shop in Cannock Road being used as a takeaway amid concerns an increase in restaurants and takeaways in the village could kill off daytime trade.

Planning officers at Cannock Chase District Council agreed it was not appropriate and used their delegated powers to refuse the planning application for the former fruit and veg shop.

They agreed such a use could lead to noise nuisance, vehicles coming and going and rubbish which could affect residents living nearby.

Cannock Chase District Council received a 284-name petition against the plans plus six letters of objection.

Councillor Chris Mitchell, who represents Cannock East ward, handed the petition to district council planning officers after being presented it by residents.

She said: "Residents who have lived in that street for all of their lives, and I'm talking people in their 70s and 80s, don't want this.

"They don't want people from all over the rest of the area coming in to fetch their takeaways, some of them eating the food and leaving rubbish."

She added: "This is a people power thing. They set up petitions, wrote letters and it's because enough is enough and I backed them every step of the way.

"We aren't a fast food takeaway village, we are a village and we want shops there that are open during the day to make us a thriving community. We don't just want shutters all day but we want shops in the day."

Several restaurants, takeaways, an off licence and fish and chip shop are already open in Cannock Road. The plan was to add a takeaway facility to a former fruit and vegetable shop in Ashworth House.

Permission was already refused for it to be a takeaway last year. It was then granted the go-ahead for it to be a restaurant but is still empty and the latest application wanted to add a takeaway facility to the planned restaurant. Plans for a takeaway in a former butcher's shop in the same street were refused permission recently.