A long-standing business owner hoping to extend his cafe's opening hours faces opposition.

Medway Council's planning committee deferred Michael Jones' proposal for Walderslade's The Village Cafe, in Walderslade Road, during a public meeting at Chatham's Gun Wharf.

Since last December, Mr Jones has wanted to extend the operation times for three additional hours on Mondays to Saturdays from 8am to 8pm. He hopes to open two hours longer on Sundays from 8am to 5pm.

Medway Council planning officers have said the proposal is "acceptable" while ward councillor David Brake (Con) has no objections.

However, the future of the cafe owner's proposal faces uncertainty amid the coronavirus crisis, and after some objections were made by several neighbours.

Three letters were sent to Medway Council opposing the move, citing concerns over "excessive noise" caused by extended use, litter problems and fears the change could encourage anti-social behaviour.

But, Cllr Brake (Con), the portfolio holder for adult services, said: "I live in the village, just around the corner and when I have walked down there, I have seen what's going on in the cafe.

"There is a good number of people who use the services, particularly on a Sunday, but I would hardly describe them as an anti-social mob of people."

He also pointed to the diverse "parade of shops" in Walderslade Road, saying the opening times of several of these stores extend beyond Mr Jones' plan.

The shops includes four estate agents, a post office, beauty salon, two coffee shops, a Co-op, which has historically opened from 7am to 10pm, and, a Domino's, which opens from 11am and 11pm.

A Medway Council paper published to the committee last week, ahead of Wednesday's meeting, stated: "It is not considered that the additional opening hours requested would be unreasonable with the sort of opening hours you would generally expect to find for a cafe/restaurant use in a neighbourhood centre."

Officers say that traffic levels are unlikely to increase significantly while concerns over noise or odour from the cafe will be mitigated by having a small outdoor seating area: two tables and seven chairs.

They added that there have been no recent records of complaints to the council's environmental protection team or planning enforcement team. The cafe opened in 2002.

A decision will be made at a future meeting, or be delegated to council officers to deal with. The next meeting is scheduled to take place on April 29 from 6.30pm at Chatham's Gun Wharf.

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