OBJECTORS to a new fish restaurant proposed for Downing Street have failed to persuade councillors that the development will have an unacceptable effect on their lives. The Loch Fyne chain has been given the go- ahead to convert the listed building, an empty office property next to the Downing Street surgery, into a restaurant including a conservatory-style extension. While Farnham Town Council welcomed the proposal, 10 residents - many of them from flats in the adjoining St Andrew's Courtyard - opposed it on the grounds of the noise and smells they expect to suffer. Members of Waverley Council's development management committee were persuaded to pay a site visit before deciding the application. But at their meeting last week they voted by nine votes to five to grant consent, despite the pleas of Bob Rodwell, a resident of the flats who represented their views. Drawing attention in particular to a service unit on a flat roof close to his dining room and an elderly neighbour's terrace, Mr Rodwell commented: "I wonder whether you would be happy to accept this intrusion in your lives if you lived where we do?" The application was granted with extra conditions relating to the service enclosure but the committee faced criticism from Farnham member Michael Blower for concentrating on technical issues and not aesthetics. "This is a Grade II listed building with tremendous amenity issues. I don't accept the design in such an important place," he declared.
