A row of takeaways likened to “a strip at Blackpool” is to get one more restaurant after councillors gave the go-ahead.

The panel agreed to let an accountant’s office in Albion Road, Idle, be changed into a takeaway, despite a ward councillor’s concerns.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) said she was worried about parking problems, the effect on elderly residents living nearby and the proximity to a nearby school – citing local problems with childhood obesity.

She said: “There is an over-concentration of that type of business.”

The applicant’s agent Al Samarraie disagreed, saying the owner did not intend to sell food during school hours.

He said: “Obesity starts at home. It doesn’t start when you open a takeaway. It starts with what you teach your children.”

Panel member Councillor Keith Dredge said he would rather see a takeaway than an empty building.

He said: “The idea of this building being put to good use and saved from being a dead building is very important.”

Councillor Howard Middleton disagreed, saying takeaways were “dead during the day”.

He said: “It’s almost like being a strip at Blackpool or Kavos or Corfu.”

The panel heard that the Council was considering a new hot food policy which could limit the number of such businesses in a particular area, but that it could take months for any new policy to be introduced.

Panel chairman Councillor Shabir Hussain said: “As far as our policy is concerned, for the time being there is nothing we can do about it.”

The panel approved the plan.