PLANS to turn a terraced house on a street with “significant traffic issues” into a butcher shop has been refused.

A planning application to convert the ground floor of 131 Maidstone Street was submitted by Sonia Nosheen earlier this summer.

The proposals said the butcher shop would be “very helpful to the local community” and would be unlikely to generate any extra traffic as most people would walk there.

But highways officers raised concerns about the plans, saying the house was in “an area which already experiences significant parking and traffic issues.”

The new business “would result in further parking and vehicular movements to and from the site further exacerbating the existing highway problems.”

They added: “If approved the proposal would therefore likely lead to conditions prejudicial to pedestrian and highway safety.”

The report by planning officers said there had been 15 objections.

There had also been 36 letters of support, highlighting the “convenience of having a food shop within walking distance.”

But planning officers pointed out that while the objections were mainly from local residents, the letters of support were from people outside the immediate area, and as far as Leeds.

The plans have been refused this week.