Pizzeria’s opening blocked by city officials because local kids are ‘too fat’

An independent takeaway chain’s plans to expand have been blocked by city bosses who said children in the area are too fat.

Woody’s Pizza, which operates two sites in West Yorkshire, wanted to open a third site in the town of Bacup, Lancs.

Owner Colum Hustler had applied for permission to take over the site of a former coffee and wine bar, which closed for good earlier this year.

The convenience food chain says it uses ‘minimal salt and sugar’ in its recipes and would buy its ingredients from the city’s local market.

But council bosses have scrapped the expansion plans, saying it conflicts with local plans as children in the area are too obese.

Previous plans to replace an ice cream and cake shop on the same street with a hot takeaway were rejected for the same reasons in 2023.

Local resident Eric Halliwell, 75, said he did not believe children in the area were obese and disagreed with the decision to reject the plans.

He said: “I don’t think there is any problem. The kids are fine, I’ve seen kids and I haven’t seen anything that’s fat.

“They’re skinny, they’ve got boxing gyms and everything, so why bother with the obese?

“The more business you have, the more people will come, you have to get people into Bacup, not out of Bacup.

“If they don’t come here, they will go somewhere else, they will always find somewhere.

“They have nothing, the children, they have nothing anywhere, nowhere to play, nothing to do. It’s boring for them.

“Even when they are not in school, they will do harm before they do any good. They need somewhere to go, of course they do.”

Rossendale Borough Council’s own rules state that it will not support any planning permission for hot meals in areas where more than 15% of Year 6 pupils or 10% of Reception pupils are classed as obese.

However, public health chiefs say 20% of 10 to 11-year-old pupils and 11.6% of reception-age children are obese in the Greensclough borough area.

Sarah O’Neill, co-owner of family business Nellie’s Cafe, located just a few doors down the street, said her cafe tries to focus on serving healthy food.

The 37-year-old, who also works as a stroke nurse at Fairfield General Hospital, said: “I think people should be given a chance to open up about healthy food, I think there’s room for someone to make healthy meals.”

The family cafe also plans to apply for a catering license and said it will fight any rejection.

Sarah added: “We could actually apply and get a ‘no’ but you just don’t know.

“Because we were going to do healthy food, I would be shocked because people want healthy food, homemade food.

“You’re not putting it on the grill with a lot of oil, it’s healthy, homemade food.

“I think I would probably reapply and fight it.”

Sarah, who has two children of her own, said she hadn’t noticed that children in the city were significantly older than in other areas.

She added that the bar previously located on the site of the rejected pizza restaurant had sold burgers and fries.

She said: “I’m really shocked, a lot of food places that are cafes have closed, I don’t know why.

“Maybe not enough money, but there is a lot of money.”

In a scathing objection to the pizza restaurant’s plans, the council’s senior planning officer Claire Bradley said the restaurant “fails to do justice to a heritage building”.

And she added that another offer on top of the existing 26 in the city would add nothing to the diversity of offer in Bacup.

Two public comments also opposed the plans, with residents objecting to the planned opening hours of 4pm to 10pm.

A comment from former city mayor Barbara Ashworth said the opening hours would “do nothing to enhance the desire for the city center to be vibrant throughout the day and evening”.

Peter Brown, also objecting, said the opening hours would ‘dissuade the older law abiding resident’ because of the ‘anti-social behavior of young people hanging around and scaring everyone’.

Council rules state that eateries near secondary schools must limit their opening hours to around lunchtime and school closing times.

However, a comment from Growth Lancashire Ltd raised no objections, saying the plans would not cause “any appreciable level of harm or loss of significance”.

In the plans, Woody’s had said: “We are like no other food.

“We don’t do dirty oil, we don’t do big pullouts, late nights and delivery drivers pulling up to our curb.

“We don’t use a lot of salt and sugar and we don’t buy cheap frozen products to fry.

“We buy direct from our market in Todmorden and Hebden Bridge… always have and always will.

“We intend to also buy directly from Bacup Market according to our model of supporting local markets and businesses.

“We are different, we are the credit of our community and they love us. Please allow us to come to Bacup and continue our journey.”

In a notice published on 16 December, Rossendale Council refused planning permission, on the grounds that there are too many obese children in the town and that it would “destroy to an unacceptable extent the living conditions of residents living close to the town. page”.

Rossendale Borough Council was contacted for comment.