Late night pizza plan falls flat amid Milton Keynes residents’ uproar

Owners of The Fat Pizza in Pimlico Court, Monkston Park, had originally wanted to organise deliveries from the store until 5 am every night of the week.

An an environmental health officer, a flurry of nine households, the parish council, and a borough councillor objected to the potential of noise disturbance from car doors and engines.

The issue was escalated to a meeting of the borough’s licensing sub committee as a compromise between residents and the business was not proving to be possible behind the scenes.

Business owner Vinay Kanwar responded to the concerns of his neighbours by scaling back his plans to 1.30am Monday to Thursday, 2.30am on Friday and Saturday and 1.30am on Sunday.

He then offered midnight from Sunday to Thursday and to 1am on Friday and Saturday during a meeting.

Mr Kanwar was praised at Thursday’s meeting for seeking to compromise on the hours and for offering to reduce noise by taking full responsibility for drivers.

The business is already able to offer takeaways and deliveries until 11pm and does not need a licence for those hours.

Cllr Jenni Ferrans (Lib Dem, Monkston) said the layout of the area means that traffic would have to come through the estate and 100 homes could all be disturbed.

With a Co-op shop in the area she said the night is already short and people need their sleep.

“He is a good trader,” she added. “You could place conditions on disturbance, but they are difficult to enforce, and what if they fail?

“It only takes one driver to cause a problem.

“I welcome Fat Pizza but this is the wrong site. It is in the wrong place.”

The meeting heard that there are plenty of businesses with late night, even 24 hour, refreshment licenses in Milton Keynes but they tend not to be in residential areas.

Bruce Bourke, a resident, told the meeting that he was “dreading the escalation of noise after 23:00.”

The committee of three councillors held a private meeting to discuss the evidence they had heard.

Cllr Mick Legg (Lab, Bletchley West), who was chairing the meeting, praised Mr Kanwar for being willing to compromise but the sub-committee decided to reject the application.

Cllr Legg said the committee was concerned about the business being in a residential area, and they had a duty to prevent public nuisance.

“Unfortunately we felt that this is the wrong location for what you were looking to achieve,” he said.