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A convenience store in Pontlottyn has won council approval to start selling hot takeaway food.

Haritha Gullapalli, of the Christies Fayre shop on Merchant Street, plans to diversify the store’s offerings by adding hot food sales.

In her application to the council, Mrs Gullapalli said “we are trying to develop our business and create jobs in [the] local community.

“We want to add [to] the existing shop with hot food takeaway, which is small scale, [and] it will be helpful for the business to get the extra income for the present,” she added.

Caerphilly Council planners said the proposed hot food sales would “likely” take up around 5% of the current business and would be “ancillary to the existing business”.

They judged the addition of the proposed development inside the business was “incidental” to the current retail use, and said planning permission via a lawful development certificate was not required.