WINSFORD Town Council’s strange objection against plans to open a café in the town was submitted in error, the Guardian has learned.

Eyebrows were raised last week when the town council objected to plans to convert the former vets on the old High Street into a licensed cafe-bar called Elixir, citing concerns over parking availability and the ‘health impact’ of the business.

The objection, which has since been removed from Cheshire West and Chester’s online planning portal, read: “Members would like to refer to the refusal by the Build to Thrive board of a KFC and a Starbucks coffee, because of the on-going obesity problem in the locality.”

However, after the Guardian spoke to several members of the council, it appears a new digital way of conducting meetings caused the comment to be included error.

Councillors have been sending comments on planning applications via email to the authority's headquarters — with the remarks originating from Cllr Malcolm Gaskill, who is not on the planning committee.

The Liberal Democrat representative said: “All I did last week was say we need to be careful with this [application] because [CWAC’s] build to thrive board have already thrown out any facility like this at the bottom of the hill — the Greedy Pig site.”

“If I was on the planning committee I would have voted for it.”

Cllr Gaskill claims the build to thrive board rejected plans for KFC and Starbucks to open up at the nearby Greedy Pigs site because of Winsford’s high obesity rate, with a 2015 CWAC report identifying parts of the town being in the bottom 25% of obesity rates in the UK among four to five year olds.

He made his comments in response to a statement from Labour Cllr Nathan Pardoe, who said: “The comment against the planning application for a new cafe on the old High Street was from a sole councillor and does not represent the view of the Winsford Town Council Labour Group. The comments should have been recorded as the view of an individual councillor.

“Myself and other Winsford Labour councillors want to see a thriving Winsford with diverse and independent businesses, especially on the treasured old High Street.”