A TAKEAWAY which has been trading since October 2016 continues to breach planning control and fire safety regulations. 

Despite trading for over a year, Pizza Hut in Mylen Road has yet to be issued with key documentation over fire safety and is still working to meet environmental health requirements outlined when it was given planning consent.

Mylen Road resident Keith Wigmore was told in an email from Test Valley Borough Council in February 2017 the shop was breaching planning control.

To overcome this, another planning application to solve Pizza Hut’s planning breaches was lodged in May 2017 with an expiry date of 26 July 2017, but the application has still yet to be decided six months later.

Mr Wigmore, who opposed the initial planning application, said: “I find it incredible if we go back to February last year that they would need the variation approved a year later, we are still working on it. There are still some issues.

“I could understand if it was the Picket Twenty plans as that’s a few hundred houses, but this is a Pizza Hut variation plan.”

An addition has been made to the application this month to establish a cleaning schedule for grease build-up from the kitchen’s exhaust system to help meet the outstanding issues.

The piece of key documentation, a final certificate for building regulations, is outstanding despite the usual time frame for one being issued is within 30 days of the building being occupied.

Private inspector Regional Building Control (RBC) carried out the initial inspection and, in emails seen by The Advertiser, it issued a contravention notice to Pizza Hut in June 2017 giving the firm three months to resolve a fire safety partitioning problem in the loft space shared with the adjoining Co-op storage facility.

Pizza Hut failed to comply within the timeframe leaving RBC to carry out the “worst case scenario” in September 2017 of handing responsibility to the council as it has enforcement powers.

A council spokesperson said: “This building was occupied prior to the council’s Building Control service becoming involved in the project and we are working with the applicant to ensure that works being carried out comply with building regulations.

“Once this has been achieved and a satisfactory completion inspection has been carried out, we will aim to issue a completion certificate within four working days.”

A Pizza Hut spokesperson also confirmed it was working with the relevant authorities to resolve the issue.

The company added: “This has included working with environmental health who have already confirmed they are satisfied that the extractor fan meets the required health and safety standards for the Hut.”

To view and comment on the plan go to TVBC’s website with planning reference 17/01368/VARN.