Cafe owner Leo Dooley was today facing a showdown with council planners over his illegal business.

He has vowed to carry on trading at his business in Shipley, despite Bradford Council voting to take enforcement action against him.

Mr Dooley, furious that he spent £5,000 converting 3-4 Glenroyal Buildings, attended a meeting of the Council's Shipley area planning committee.

The committee heard how planning permission had been denied at an earlier meeting, but he had continued trading.

During the meeting Mr Dooley made a protest about the way the Council's decisions are made. He left the meeting and returned wearing Asian-style garments to protest at the way the committee reached its decision.

He was ordered to leave the meeting at Shipley Town Hall.

He could then be heard playing a tape recording outside the council chamber, in which he alleges a council official told him the Highways Department was "quite happy" for him to go ahead with the conversion before he started work on his Gutbusters cafe.

Mr Dooley then re-entered the chamber, where he sat for the rest of the meeting. The committee voted to serve him with an enforcement notice, giving him 28 days to quit or face legal consequences.

Mr Dooley is angry because he claims officials indicated he would secure planning permission.

But an earlier meeting of the committee rejected the application. Because Mr Dooley insisted on carrying on the business, the council decided on legal action.

Committee member Coun Jack Womersley (Lab, Queensbury) said: "There's a planning process that needs to be got through. We're the ones who make the decisions."

Mr Dooley promised councillors the fight was not over, saying he intended to stay open.

"You'll have to come back with hammers and nails and board it up - and I'll take them down," said Mr Dooley, who presented councillors with a petition from 160 customers in support of the cafe.

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