A ROMSEY delicatessen and bistro owner has run into trouble with his neighbour who says he is trading without planning permission.

But Stephen Agar-Huty, of Tastebuds, says he’s done everything possible to obtain planning permission for his Latimer Street business.

His comments come after the owners of a neighbouring café complained to Test Valley Borough Council that Tastebuds had opened in November without getting planning consent for change of use .

Mr Agar-Huty told the Advertiser: “I submitted the planning application on October 10 and took out the lease for the Latimer Street location at the end of October, over a month before opening the deli – giving plenty of time for the application to have gone through.

He claims he rang the planning department in mid-November after hearing nothing more from the council.

Mr Agar-Huty said he was told there “was a problem with the application” and the council claimed it had written to him to let him know. But Mr Agar-Huty disputes this.

He said he eventually received an e-mail from the council on November 24, which said the council had not registered his application.

“I did not know what was wrong with the first one. However, it now transpires that, despite having been to the planning office with the original application and having it checked by the planning officer, it went missing before they could register it.”

Mr Agar Huty says that he went to TVBC’s Dutton’s Road offices again this week and handed over further copies of his original application and further information requested by officials in a bid to speed up matters.

“To say I found the application process tedious and irksome is to understate the matter. Nevertheless, I categorically state it was never the intention to open without planning consent.”

He blames the council for letting the matter, which he describes as a “storm in a teacup”, stew.

A spokesperson for TVBC said the authority’s enforcer had advised Mr Agar-Huty that planning permission was required for the change of use to a café.

“An application has now been received, but there are some queries on the submission and it cannot yet be registered. This is being chased by the council. In such circumstances, it is not considered appropriate to take any other action at this stage,” said the spokesperson.

Mark Viney whose daughter, Louise Viney and her business partner run Number Ate, a few doors away from Tastebuds, said he was not happy Tastebuds had opened without consent.

“It’s wrong that they can just go in there and open without planning permission. My daughter had to go by the rulebook and get permission first.

“Tastebuds has got flat signs plastered all over the building which were put up without planning permission, yet the council has just told us the Number Ate sign we put up is too modern and has to be amended. I can’t believe it,” said Mr Viney.