A third bid to retain a cafe which opened without planning permission has been rejected.

Coffee & Chai has been operating in Howard Place, Shelton since 2021, but the building has never had planning consent.

The business, which serves hot and cold drinks along with 'Asian street food' such as kebabs and samosas, has become popular with taxi drivers and students at nearby Stoke-on-Trent College. Two previous retrospective planning applications for the cafe, next to Chico's Peri Grill, were refused by Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

And now a third application, submitted in response to a council enforcement investigation, has also been turned down by planners. The latest proposal was for the temporary retention of the cafe for three years, to give the applicant, Sabet Hayder, time to consider his options.

These options could include submitting plans for a permanent building on the site, or moving to alternative premises. But the council refused permission due to the application clashing with national planning policy aimed at 'promoting healthy lives and communities'.

Coffee & Chai employs one full-time and two-part time workers, and is open from 8am to 11pm. Along with the retention of the building as a hot food takeaway, the latest application also included proposals for widening the vehicle entrance onto Pyenest Street.

According to the planning officers' report, the proposals would be acceptable in terms of visual amenity and heritage, residential amenity and highway safety, subject to conditions. But national planning policy says that applications for hot food takeaways should be refused if they are outside a town centre and are within walking distance of schools or other places where young people congregate.

The report states: "Consideration is also given to any possible public benefits that may arise as a result of the development which could outweigh the harm caused by the identified conflict with national policy, such as to the local economy or in the provision of additional amenities for the local community.

"However, on balance, it is considered that the benefits arising from the development are primarily private ones, for the financial benefit of the applicant and landowner, such that they do not outweigh policy concerns."

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