A PLANNED fast food outlet is the first to fall foul of a new tough Bradford Council policy banning such businesses from opening near schools or children's centres.

Peter Lee runs Midnight Connection in Leeds Road, Thornbury, a shop selling disco and karaoke equipment that has been running for more than 40 years.

Yesterday, he heard that his application to divide the shop, and turn part of the building into a grilled food takeaway had been refused by planning officers.

In making their decision, they said the plans were "unacceptable" because of the new policy, adopted by Bradford Council last month that banned fast food outlets from opening within 400 metres of a school, park, or youth centre.

In response, Mr Lee said he was never intending to try to attract the school crowd to his planned takeaway, but merely trying to bring a new revenue stream to his struggling business.

His planning application said the market for karaoke equipment had "collapsed" and that the new takeaway would only open at 5pm, after schools had finished for the day.

In refusing the application, planning officer Amin Ibrar said the takeaway would be within 400m of the Madni Mosque in Thornbury Road, Thornbury Youth and Community Centre, Masjid Ibraheemiyah and Education Centre and Thornbury Primary School in Lower Rushton Road, as well as Laisterdyke Business and Enterprise College.

But Mr Lee said: "I had told the Council I wasn't going to open in the day when schools are open, it was just an evening business.

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"I was aware of the issues with schools. I'd gone out of my way to let them know I would be avoiding school times, so I'm very disappointed with the decision.

"We've been going for nearly 40 years, and at one point I had 35 staff. That has gone down to just me."

Mr Lee said he had hoped the takeaway would bring extra revenue into the business, but with the refusal he now questions its future.

The Council pointed out the proximity to schools was only one factor of the refusal, with others including lack of parking spaces and impact on neighbouring properties. It also said the mosques and other youth facilities would not necessarily have the same closing times as schools.

Mohammed Yousuf, the Council's area planning manager, said: "I can confirm this was the first application to be refused under the council's new policy to restrict hot food takeaways in close proximity to schools and other youth facilities.

"However, there were also three other key factors that led to the decision to refuse after the case was assessed against local and national planning policies. These other three factors were: noise concerns relating to the upper-floor residential areas; a lack of detail on floor plans and ducting systems, and insufficient car parking.”

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