PLANS to build an extension at a beach front cafe have been approved - contrary to recommendations.

The owners of Avon Beach, now known as the Noisy Lobster, saw their plans for a single storey extension for storage and the enlargement of the disabled facilities given the green light at a recent meeting of Christchurch Borough Council's planning committee.

Officers had recommended the plans should be refused.

The business owners said the scheme followed the refusal of a previous application to retain two beach huts for storage.

In a statement, they said: "Very much on a temporary basis we have located these foodstuffs and goods in the nearest places we could find; the basement and the store in the ladies' toilet, at the rear.

"Bearing in mind we have to visit these new storage places many times in a day we have found it to be most inefficient in terms of running the business.

"This is a very much needed facility, urgently required now and allowing for the future; at the same time keeping in mind the exacting requirements of Health & Safety where foodstuffs are involved."

The extension will be built next to the existing kitchen and to the south of the toilet block.

Twenty letters of objection opposed the scheme, with concerns about the continued overdevelopment of the site and the impact on the right of way.

In a report to the committee, officers said: "It is considered that the extension will have a poor built relationship with the existing kitchen extension, impede the existing terrace and reduce the level of access to the public toilets resulting in an awkward, cramped and contrived form of development.

"The extension would contribute to overdevelopment of the site and would be detrimental to the character and appearance of the coastal zone."

The application was approved 5-4.