Plans to build a new Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant on Norwich's outer ring road have been given the go ahead.

The fast food giant had asked Broadland District Council for planning permission to build the restaurant in Mile Cross Lane in Hellesdon.

Hellesdon Parish Council had supported the scheme, which will see garages, former offices and a building which used to be a social club make way for a two-storey takeaway KFC restaurant.

But officers at Norwich City Council had lodged an objection to the proposal, stating that: 'It is considered that the nature, location, scale, layout and siting of the use proposed in this location, outside any designated centre and on a major road junction within an employment area, would not represent an acceptable form of sustainable development.'

They said the proposal went against government statements encouraging sustainable development and goes against the Joint Core Strategy – a blueprint for development in and around Norwich.

However, at a meeting of Broadland District Council's planning committee today, councillors decided to ignore that objection from City Hall.

Going with the advice of their own planning officers, they unanimously granted approval for the restaurant, which will also feature a drive through.

The restaurant will create 25 full and 20 part-time jobs

The proposed hours of opening are from 6am until midnight every day of the week, including bank holidays.

Officers at Broadland said the current office building, which has long stood empty, was 'of its time' and the new restaurant would be an improvement aesthetically.

The restaurant would not be accessible from Mile Cross Lane, but rather from Vulcan Road South, with the road layout changed slightly to make it easier to negotiate the corner.

A planning statement, drawn up by KFC's Nottingham-based agents Capita Symonds, pointed to a number of bus stops nearby and said the site was 'in an excellent location for customers to walk to or make linked trips to or from the nearby bus stops, shops and other facilities and for passing trade on the A1042.'