Chip shop plan 'conflicts with healthy aims'

A number of towns are trying to cut down on takeaways

Plans for a chip shop in Hartlepool are facing refusal as north east towns shift towards healthy eating initiatives.

Manminder Singh Dhatt hopes to turn a disused beauty salon into a takeaway.

But planning officers say the proposals should be refused because they undermine council efforts to "promote healthy lifestyles".

Earlier this year, Sunderland's Cole Kitchen was told it must stop selling takeaway food over concerns it was adding to the area's obesity problem.

Local authorities in Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Gateshead are among those to have adopted a planning approach informed by a "recognised link between takeaway food and obesity".

Plans to turn a disused beauty salon into a chip shop face refusal

In Hartlepool, plans to convert the Elwick Road salon into a fish and chip shop have been met with opposition from council planning and public health officers.

In the application, Manminder Singh Dhatt says the premises would make "a perfect site" for his takeaway business.

A statement in support of his application says the business would offer healthy options and would bring the property back into use to provide a local service.

But a report from council officers recommends refusal of his proposals and says the takeaway would "conflict with local plan policy requirements with respect to undermining efforts to promote healthy lifestyles".

Hartlepool Council's public health department highlighted the number of existing takeaways in the town and said another would "contribute to poor health and health inequalities".

The application will go before the council's planning committee for a decision on 13 March.