Parking has been highlighted as one of the major issues for a proposed takeaway in South Ham as the decision was deferred at a council committee meeting.

As previously reported in the Gazette, an application has been submitted to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council for the change of use of a shop in Buckland Parade, South Ham.

This would see the former Lincoln hardware shop, which closed in August last year, change the use of the building.

The application, put forward by Andrew Thomas, would see the building change use from being Use Class A1 (a shop) to Use Class A5 (a fish and chips and kebab takeaway) with the installation of a new shopfront and an extractor fan.

The application, which was recommended for approval last week, was presented to councillors at a development control committee meeting on July 10, where the decision was made to defer a decision on the application, pending further information on the storage and waste capabilities of the site, the transport, parking and deliveries at the site.

The shop would join a row of shops that contains a McColl's newsagent, an Indian restaurant and takeaway, as well as a bus stop just outside.

There were several members of the public and councillors who attended to meeting to object to the proposal.

South Ham ward councillor Seán Keating said at the meeting: "We know the area so well as we frequent there and in frequenting it and I can tell you that between 5pm-11pm in the evening, there is a significant parking problem."

He added: "But the multitude of takeaways and the accumulated number of people who are coming to frequent these premises are exceptionally high and that's evidenced by the fact that the people who want to use this places actually park down along Buckland Avenue."

The applicant, Mr Thomas, was present at the meeting, and did not believe that parking would be an issue.

At the meeting, he said: "We believe that the parking issues will not be any better or any worse than what they are now, because whatever shop goes in there, is going to require some sort of parking.

"We are a takeaway, so it will be a a short stay stop, people will stop for five or ten minutes, jump in the cars and then go."

Mr Thomas added: "We think that it will be an asset to the area, and to the members of the public who can't drive."

In respect to the opening hours of the venue, with the closing of the shop planned to be 11pm each day with 'no plans for later opening times.'

Concerns were also raised as to the deliveries that the store would receive, as well as the storage of the shop and the waste that would be produced.

The committee voted to defer the final decision on the application until further information can be obtained.