Plans approved to turn Lutterworth cafe into takeaway

The application, by Abdullah Palas, is for the former Mercury News, now called Cafe Rustica, in Linden Drive, in Lutterworth.

The proposal, submitted to Harborough District Council (HDC), is to turn the ground-floor cafe into a takeaway, open from 2pm to 11pm seven days a week. The application does not mention whether the name of the takeaway would remain as Cafe Rustica. The flat above will remain, according to planning documents.

There were two objections to the plans, one from Lutterworth Town Council and one from a resident who said over the past few years the row of businesses had leaned exclusively towards takeaways, and now included an Indian eatery, a Chinese, a fish and chip shop, a burger/breakfast bar and a coffee shop. They added: “As you can imagine this small estate is well catered for in regards to food of that nature and to add yet another takeaway is just overkill.”

The resident raised additional concerns regarding traffic, noise, smells, effect on existing businesses and the close proximity to two secondary schools and a sixth form college. With regard to traffic, the resident said the main concern was the “inevitable increase in the existing traffic problem in this area”. They added people had taken to parking on the pedestrian area at the front of the shops which “has already caused several accidents and numerous near misses particularly car vs pedestrian”.

The other major concern they had was regarding noise. They said most of the businesses in the area closed at around 10.30pm, but the new takeaway would be open until 11pm, seven days a week which meant residents “would never get a reprieve from the inevitable noise created, not only from late night customers, but also delivery riders, and the noise the staff would make after closing time”.

Lutterworth Town Council objected to the plan based on the proposed opening hours, and said the business “would have a significant negative impact on the local community”. It said it was concerned that the later opening hours “would cause undue noise and disruption, particularly in a residential area, affecting the quality of life for nearby residents”.

No dedicated parking is listed in the plan, but on-street parking is available at the front of the shop. Mr Palas’s application includes the installation of an extraction system to remove smoke, steam, grease and cooking odours.

The documents suggest the current employee count of one full-time and three part-time members of staff would be maintained if the plan went ahead. However, in a section of the documents titled “employment benefits for the premises”, it is suggested the conversion to a takeaway would “result in additional employment”, although no specifics have been given.

The planning application states: “The local take away will bring a new diversity food into the area giving the community more choice to explore different types of food, giving a new alternate food option locally, hence bringing a positive lift up into the area. The proposal is promoting variety of food, giving an opportunity for the local neighbourhood to have choices (sic).”