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Council planners have turned down proposals for a new takeaway and seven flats at a former pub in Bargoed.

The applicant, Ayyan Properties Ltd, had hoped to further redevelop the McDonnell – at the corner of McDonnell Road and St Gwladys Avenue – which has already had a convenience store added on the ground floor.

If approved, the new plans would have allowed another part of the ground floor to be converted into a restaurant with a counter area and seating.

Designs showed how the two upper floors would also be redesigned to create a mixture of one- and two-bedroom flats.

But Caerphilly County Borough Council planning officers rejected the application, after deciding the proposed takeaway would have an “unacceptable impact” on future occupiers of the flats and on neighbours.

They said kitchen and extraction equipment would have an “adverse” effect on three of the proposed new homes – and there were also concerns a new takeaway would lead to “short-term disruption” on the street outside, including more traffic and idling vehicles.

Parking was one of four concerns raised by three objectors during a recent public consultation period.

The objectors also raised concerns about the building being listed – but council planners said that was not the case – as well as waste and pressure on local infrastructure.

The council did not accept the latter two objections, but agreed a takeaway would cause a “high demand for short-term on-street parking” and “constant vehicle movements”.

They judged a new takeaway would “worsen” an existing shortage of parking spaces and result in “an unacceptable impact upon highway safety”.