A PLANNING application for a hot food takeaway which would "liberate Asian women from having to make chapatis" has been rejected - but only by the casting vote of a committee chairman.

Councillors were split when it came to voting on whether to approve the proposal so chairman Coun Stephen Large used his to refuse it.

Earlier, speaking as a member of the public, Coun Rafique Malik addressed the Burnley planning committee to explain the situation in Stoneyholme.

He said there had been two fish and chip take-aways but one was now a shop and the other closed.

"There is no hot food outlet to serve a community of some 600 to 700 houses," he said. "Approval of this application would liberate Asian women who have to make chapatis. No-one from the community has raised any objections to the proposal."

Officers recommended refusal of the plan to convert a former video shop on Brougham Street because it was contrary to Burnley's own hot food take-away policy.

Coun Mozaquir Ali said: "We can't apply policies in one area and then not in another. This will attract more undesirable people to the area. It is not a desirable development."

But Coun Les Harrison spoke for the plan saying it was ridiculous if the community wanted it but the council then turned it down.

He said: "I wouldn't have thought the smell of curry in that area would cause any problems with anybody - 99.9 per cent of the people are ethnic."

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