AN Italian restaurant can now open later and create a function room on its first floor — so long as they paint yellow lines outside their eatery.

Councillors said the owners of Cafe Italia must pay more than £4,000 towards waiting restrictions around the restaurant to stop customers parking by residents’ houses.

The decision was part of two planning applications, which mean the business can now convert its cookery and training room into a private dining area, suitable for private functions, and open until 9.30pm on Sundays.

Chorley Old Road resident Graham Good attended the committee to tell councillors how he has had to call police at least eight times when people have parked over his drive, which is accessible by a small sliproad next to Cafe Italia.

He said: “I am driven potty by the bottles being emptied at 7.10am, and I have been blocked by delivery vans, although they are not there that long.

“Sometimes I have to get the bus to work because I can’t get my car out.

“It stops us going about our general business.”

Smithills councillors Roger Hayes and Andrew Martin, who sits on the committee, led the calls for waiting restrictions to be enforced.

Cllr Martin also called for a new sign to be placed to tell motorists to turn left when they come out of the lower car park, to stop them going the wrong way onto the roundabout and causing an accident.

He said: “There is a lot of problems with the parking, and we have received about the parking situation. It is not good.

“I think parking restrictions would make a good positive difference.”

Cllr Bob Allen said he was surprised that residents would want parking restrictions on the sliproad, as it would stop their visitors parking there.

“This restaurant seems to have found a winning formula, so we shouldn’t stop in any way the running of a successful business unless we really have to”, he told the committee.

“There is lots of issues with parking around here and we have to be careful where we put them.

“If the residents are happy with it then I would support it.”

Councillors also decided to allow permission on a permanent basis, rather than temporarily as recommended by the planning officers.