TAPAS is coming to Golcar after all.

Planners had knocked back the proposal for a Spanish restaurant on Town End last year after residents complained it would cause noise and parking disruption.

But this week the decisions was reversed by the Planning Inspectorate after businessman Chris Townend appealed.

Yesterday he said: “I’m over the moon, chuffed to bits. I think the right decision was reached, but it’s a shame that we had to go round the houses.”

Mr Townend will convert the single-storey Huddersfield Heating Services building next to the Co-op into a two-floor tapas bar with room for up to 40 tables.

He hopes the restaurant will be open by the summer. Mr Townend said: “Hopefully people will be able to eat some tapas as they watch England win the World Cup!”

Mr Townend, who owns Townend Construction in Scapegoat Hill, added that the restaurant would be a major boost to the village. He said: “I think it will add that touch of class that’s been missing. It will be a new meeting point for Golcar people.”

In September the council’s Huddersfield Planning Sub-committee knocked back the plan by seven votes to four.

Town End residents spoke against the restaurant at the meeting, saying it would be over-bearing and would lead to parking problems, traffic congestion, litter and noise.

But Mr Townend said yesterday that these fears were unfounded. He said: “The people who use the restaurant will be local people who will walk or take the bus. The few people who will drive to the restaurant will have enough parking spaces.”

Mr Townend hopes to open the restaurant from 5pm to 11pm on weekdays, from 1pm to 11pm on Saturdays and 1pm to 10.30pm on Sunday. He pointed out that the Co-op next door already stays open until 10pm.

Clr Robert Iredale, who spoke against the tapas bar at last September’s planning meeting, is unhappy that Mr Townend’s appeal was successful.

Yesterday he said: “I’m disappointed for the people who live in the immediate area around where the tapas bar will be. I accept that a lot of people in Golcar who are in favour of it but they are not the people who will have to live with it.”

The Golcar Lib Dem added that the restaurant would cause parking problems even if most customers came on foot. He said: “Even if 10 or 15 people drive there, they’ll have nowhere to park.”

Clr Iredale added: “There’s nowhere for smokers to go so they will have to smoke on the street.”

And the councillor pointed out that there was now planing permission to serve hot food at the site.

He said: “If the tapas bar is not successful and Mr Townend sells it on, it could be turned into a curry house or any kind of takeaway.”