Plans to open a burger takeaway in a prominent tourist hotspot have been thrown out by concerned councillors.

Eastern Daily Press: Grill and Grind 2, Beach Road, Hemsby. Picture: Nick ButcherGrill and Grind 2, Beach Road, Hemsby. Picture: Nick Butcher (Image: Archant © 2017)

Great Yarmouth Borough Council's planning committee has refused to allow the owner of Grill and Grind2 burger bar in Hemsby to change the use of the unit from a retail premises to hot food takeaway.

The unit in Beach Road had been part of the neighbouring indoor market, Clearance House, but is now a separate unit within the larger building.

Hemsby Parish Council had formally objected to the plans because they said it was 'excessive' that over half of the businesses in the tourist precinct are food related.

It said: 'It doesn't represent a good spread of tourist related businesses.'

The parish council also complained there were no toilets or hygiene facilities, no parking and there could be extra litter from the unit.

As the application was retrospective, officers from the borough council's environmental health and planning department visited the site during the time the unit was operating to assess the impact of the cooking in terms of odours.

The council issued a planning enforcement temporary stop notice to make further checks and in that time the owner made the planning application.

In a report presented to borough councillors, a planning officer said: 'From the site inspections it was clear that because the limited size of the building, and the type of cooking on site being based on electric hotplates the intensity of cooking odours was limited.

'No objections had or have been received from the nearest residential or holiday accommodation properties regarding smells or odours or loss of amenity.'

Planning officers recommended the application for approval because it would not harm the amenity of neighbouring businesses, nor the occupants of the nearest residential and holiday accommodation as the intensity of cooking is relatively low, and there was sufficient distance to neighbours.

But a majority of councillors on the committee voted against the change of use proposal.

The unit had most recently been a vaping shop called the Ministry of Vape, which the council says has relocated inside the main building.