Officers have confirmed the new pay and display car park at an empty pub needed planning permission.

Work to change the car park at the Buck Inn on Yarmouth Road in Thorpe St Andrew to a pay and display finished on February 11.

Now the River Yare-facing site has Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras and bollards in order to enforce parking charges.

Owners Black Orange Investments, based in Norwich, did not apply for planning permission prior to the work.

But following a recent investigation by Broadland District Council a retrospective planning application was submitted on Monday after enforcement officers found permission was needed.

If permission is not granted, the owners could face having to take the cameras and bollards down.

It comes after neighbours expressed anger over the new enforcement measures, which were announced in a letter sent to people living in the town.

Former landlady of The Buck Inn, Patsy Dashwood, who lives nearby, branded the pay and display system ridiculous and feared friends would no longer visit due to potential charges.

Chris Wardlow, a 55-year-old train driver, said he was concerned about security and who had access to the data from the ANPR cameras.

The letter said: "[On] two separate dates 4th-5th and 11th-12th February, there will be engineers installing the system which will log and register vehicles coming in and out of the car park.

"The system is set up so that residents and visitors passing through the car park to the properties behind the car park do not get penalties or tickets sent to them, so again it will not affect you in any way."

It adds: "From the dates above going forward, the car park will be a 'Pay and Display' car park, meaning any car parked in the car park will have to pay the tariff to park there and if not will be issued penalties."

On behalf of Black Orange Investments, planning consultants La Ronde Wright wanted to make clear the cameras were ANPR not CCTV but made no further comment.