COUNCIL highways bosses have raised concerns over parking outside a proposed new restaurant.

The building, in Halliwell Road, used to be home to the former Sharman Arms pub, which has stood empty since around 2009.

Now, an application from Naresh Patel aims to change the use of the site into a proposed new restaurant, with a single storey extension at the rear.

Mr Patel's application was submitted in late March and is expected to be decided before mid-May.

However, planning officers have posed concerns about parking around the potential development.

In response to the application, they said: "The highways surrounding the site are well used in terms of on-street parking owing to the terraced residential nature of the surrounding properties and the level of businesses at that location in the same position in terms of parking.

The Bolton News:

There is a public car park within proximity that is well used by businesses at that location and by the school for drop-off provision during its operational peak period.

"There is a concern that this proposed use-class could potentially lead to additional parking on the surrounding highways to the detriment of residential amenity. From experience these types of use do tend to lead to the contravention of existing waiting/loading restrictions surrounding a premises."

They went on to say there was "insufficient information" to be sure the application could cause problems and asked that Mr Patel provided a "parking accumulation study".