A PORTLAND takeaway has lost a planning appeal against Dorset Council’s refusal over changes to the Weston Road property.

The authority turned down a retrospective application for a new window and door, a flu and illuminated business signs a year ago – together with a change of use application from restaurant/café to a takeaway.

A planning inspector has now decided in the council’s favour, rejecting the case put forward by the owner of AJ’s Pizza, Mr Cengiz Zorel.

A neighbour who has campaigned against the changes to the business said he and others in the area were delighted by the decision - adding that it had taken too long to resolve.

The premises used to be a local restaurant, L and O’s Bistro, until the previous hosts decided to retire in the spring of 2021.

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Before that the building was a shop and post office before being converted into a restaurant in 1998, originally trading as Vaughan's Bistro named after the building’s owners, then becoming L and O's Bistro in 2005.

Portland Town Council said when the switch to a take-away happened that it “strongly objected” to the changes, which were out of keeping in a conservation area.

It said there has also been effects on neighbours, with increased noise and smells and a “significant increase in anti-social behaviour” outside the premises.

“The application states that there will be no increase in traffic. However, delivery drivers are constantly leaving and arriving, as are customers who collect directly from the premises. As there are no dedicated parking spaces, these cars are blocking access to neighbouring properties,” said the town council objection.

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Dorset Council’s Conservation Officer said that the changes affect: “the special character and local distinctiveness of the Weston Conservation Area”.

The planning inspector, Alison Fish, who visited the site, comments in her summary that residents nearby should have “a reasonable expectation of peace and quiet in their own homes” and says that since the conversion from a restaurant/café there has been “a marked change in the level of disturbance experienced by local residents,” with the extraction system resulting in: “an unacceptable level of noise and disturbance to neighbouring occupiers which cannot be adequately mitigated.”

The inspector came to a similar conclusion about smells from the premises and said all the physical changes to the building were contrary to policies to protect the Conservation Area.