A RESTAURANT owner has voiced his disgust at St Helens Council’s rationale for refusing a planning application to open a takeaway.

Earlier this year, the Star reported how Little Italy on Ormskirk Road in Rainford, a restaurant offering traditional Italian food, had been advised by St Helens Council that their latest venture - which would offer food as takeaway options in a new venue nearby -  would fall foul of planning rules.

This is due to it being within 400 metres of a primary school.

The application was subsequently rejected by St Helens Council.

Why the brothers want to open a new venue

Encouraged by the demand for their restaurant, brothers Fabio, Francesco and Valerio Cangemi were planning to open a separate venue for takeaway options after 4.30pm only.

The trio have spent upwards of £30,000 in transforming a former tearooms nearby into Little Italy Express to offer the same Mediterranean dishes that they offer in the restaurant.

The rationale for the refusal by St Helens Borough Council is due to the business being classed as a takeaway, a classification which the council told the brothers they had to apply for.

Council's policy

As previously reported, a council planning policy was set up in 2011 to prevent takeaways from opening close to schools in a bid to combat rising levels of childhood obesity.

Following the refusal of planning permission, the brothers are now appealing the decision.

As part of that process, the council has broken down its rationale to the Planning Inspectorate  – details of which have infuriated the brothers.

Brother's reaction

One of the brothers, Fabio Cangemi said: “We followed every rule set out for us by them and applied for everything we needed to and now to ask us – a restaurant serving homemade Italian food from scratch – how much salt we put in our sauce, how specifically our dough is made and more is insulting...

“Yes, some items on our menu aren’t classed as healthy, such as a Carbonara in any restaurant, but to imply our food isn’t made with the freshest ingredients is insulting.

“Recently we had students in from Eaves Lane Primary for a special day where they could see what goes into our food.

"They were shocked that a tin of plain tomatoes from Italy and garlic is all that makes up our pasta sauce, our dough is three simple ingredients - it is back to basics purely good mediterranean food.

The brothers at Little Italy  (Image: Fabio Cangemi)

“To put it in the same category as fast food pizzerias like Domino's or chippies and take away Chinese venues or kebab shops is wrong. I’m happy for all businesses to coincide but we are not offering what they are and it’s unfair to say we are.

“We have huge demand in our restaurant, hence why we bought the other to offer the same menu at a reduced rate for take out customers; we now rent the flat above to avoid any problems there and are happy to address any issues.

“This latest document from the council looks to ask us to test each of our items in a lab to analyse our ingredients. How can a business owner not be upset with that?”

Food truck

Despite the upset, the brothers have found a way to further serve the community, offering a food truck on the privately owned car park of the venue.

They offer some of their menu items as take out on one-off dates.

Fabio said: “It’s been so busy when we’ve got the truck out and it just goes to show the demand is there.

“They’ve built 300 homes, Rainford residents say they want more variety and we are offering that. I just can’t believe the trouble we’ve had for wanting to invest in this town.”

The appeal process is still ongoing.

To read the document recently published by St Helens Council for the appeal, go to https://publicaccess.sthelens.gov.uk/online-applications/appealDetails.do?activeTab=documents&keyVal=SD9MC9PE02L00

Little Italy will publish their rebuttal in the coming weeks.