PLANNERS will decide tomorrow if two new food outlets can open on a busy Huddersfield road.

Stableford Investments has asked Kirklees Council for permission to convert 119 to 123 Lidget Street in Lindley into a restaurant.

The two-storey building next to Concepts Beauty is currently vacant.

The restaurant would be open from Monday to Thursday, between 11.30am and 2pm; and from 6pm until 11pm. On Fridays the restaurant would be open from 6pm to midnight.

Doors would open from 11.30am to 2pm; and 6pm to midnight on Saturdays and from 11.30am to 2pm; and 6pm to 11pm on Sundays.

Eleven people have written to Kirklees opposing the plan.

Their objections include:

There is no space for unloading stock

Staying open until midnight is inappropriate in a residential area

There is a shortage of parking spaces for staff and customers

Lidget Street already suffers from traffic congestion.

Meanwhile, Joanna Graham has asked for planning permission to convert another vacant shop on the road.

The businesswoman ran a children’s clothing shop 103 Lidget Street for five years before closing in January.

Ms Graham wants to convert the premises into a local food shop and cafe.

The business would be open from 8am to 10pm seven days a week and would employ one full-time and three part-time staff.

Twenty-eight people have written to Kirklees opposing the plan. Their objections include:

The development would increase parking and traffic problems

The restaurant would generate more noise on the street in the evenings

The development would undermine existing restaurants on Lidget Street, possibly leading to the loss of jobs.

Fifty-one people have signed a petition supporting the plan.

Clr Christine Stanfield has written to the council opposing both plans.

The Lindley Lib Dem said: “I am not happy that the whole of Lidget Street is turning into eating places.

“We would have three restaurants, three bistros, one tapas bar and a takeaway on that stretch of shops. We have lost the diversity that used to make Lindley special.

“I am also worried about parking issues – neither of the new proposed eating places have parking facilities.”

The council’s Huddersfield Planning Sub-committee will rule on both proposals at its monthly meeting at Huddersfield Town Hall from 1pm tomorrow.