A takeaway pizza parlour’s application to stay open late after Christmas has been rejected.

Medway Council’s licensing hearing panel rejected an application by Super Pizza in Chatham to stay open until 5am from December 27 to January 2.

They sided with police over concerns that the extra hours would likely cause public nuisance, possible criminality, and littering.

The applicant, Mr Khan, and his friend, referred to only as Susan, said that they didn’t believe the issues raised by Kent Police would be a problem in reality.

They said they had never had any issues with litter over the eight years that Mr Khan had run the shop and his staff were respectful and didn’t make excessive noise when making deliveries.

There was some confusion as Susan and Mr Khan seemed to contradict each other, at first saying the shop would only offer deliveries from 2am until 5am for the duration of the Temporary Event Notice (TEN), but then later saying the shop would be open to customers between these hours.

They also said that they would hire security staff and ask drivers to phone customers when they arrived to deliver to try to reduce disturbances.

However, councillors echoed comments made by Kent Police that these measures were not described in the application and so decided to reject the proposal.

PC Ian Pickett said: “There’s been no mention regarding what measures would be in place during the extended hours, despite what was said in the licensing hearing in April.

“If measures had been mentioned in the Temporary Event Notice, or a risk assessment had been or would be conducted, then our concerns may have been abated.”

He also said that due to nightclubs and pubs in the area also having later opening hours, the possibility of anti-social behaviour from drunk people was something that needed to be considered.

Chairman of the licensing panel, Cllr Dan McDonald, said: “We are going to refuse the application as we are not satisfied that the application meets the concerns of the objectors, and we are also concerned about the prevention of crime and disorder and public nuisance.”

Super Pizza had applied in April to stay open until 5am Monday to Sunday but was refused on the same grounds that it would cause a public nuisance because of noise and anti-social behaviour which might result in crime and disorder.

During the licensing hearing panel on December 18 for the TEN, Mr Khan said he was appealing that decision but had to reschedule the court date as his solicitor had been ill on the set date of December 14.

However, Mandy Francis, senior licensing and enforcement officer at Medway Council, said that her department had not had any notification of a hearing or appeal.

Mr Khan was asked if he had sent his appeal to the April decision to the licensing department and he said that he had done it through his solicitor, but he couldn’t remember the name of the firm.

The meeting adjourned briefly for the legal team to discuss with Mr Khan the circumstances of his appeal.

Ultimately, the panel decided that the application as written did not address any of the problems identified with the April application and so the same issues persisted.

They rejected the application meaning Super Pizza will not be allowed to open later than its usual times.