Retrospective plans to convert a former town centre church into a café have been approved.

The application for Kathy’s Café, in Regent Street, Haslingden, was granted in retrospect by Rossendale Council with a number of conditions.

The café, next to Butties 2 Buffets, Baitul Mukarram Mosque and Islamic Centre, and the Haslingden Trades Club, had previously been used as a funeral parlour, offices, and a church.

The site is situated within the Haslingden Town Centre Conservation Area, and documents submitted as part of the application stated the change was supported by Rossendale Council’s Local Plan.

The documents said: “The Local Plan is supportive of cafes in the defined retail part of the town centre, however the policy does not exclude such uses elsewhere.

“In this instance, the property is located close to other compatible uses including a drinking club, a public house, other retail uses and what for many decades was the Public Hall.

“The property is within the Town Centre Conservation Area, though no external changes are proposed or applied for. The application is solely for the change of use of the premises.”

In relation to parking concerns, the applicant said most customers arrive on foot but both on and off-street parking is available nearby, and the highways department at Lancashire County Council raised no objections to the plan.

Drawings show inside the café there is a general café area plus an adjoined dining room, plus customer toilets.

One public comment objecting to the plans was received by neighbour Timothy Wood-Ives, who said he had complained to the council about “nasty cooking smells” coming from the site, and calling for its extraction chimney to be moved.

In approving the plans, Rossendale Council placed a condition on the decision ensuring “the existing system for extracting cooking odours shall be satisfactorily retained at all times in order to safeguard surrounding local residents and the occupiers of surrounding premises from excessive cooking odours”.