A TOWN centre takeaway in Okehampton has been granted permission to extend its opening hours.

Dillan Kebab on West Street can now open until 12.30am Sunday to Tuesday, and 1.30am on Friday and Saturday.

Two letters of objection were received by West Devon Borough Council's planning department, both expressing concern about the impact on local residents of delivery vehicles using Jacobs Pool to access the shop. Concerns about traffic and people noise from the shop were also raised by the town council in an official response to the proposals.

To allay residents' concerns, permission for later opening was granted with the conditions that delivery vehicles would not make deliveries to or from the rear of the shop through Jacobs Pool later than 11.30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights, and 10.30pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays without prior written permission.

The takeaway's owner, Murat Kaya, said: 'This will not mean extra noise for residents. The pubs in town are open until similar times. Most of the residents are quite happy with us being here, apart from one or two who have registered their views.'

There have been three previous applications to extend the shop's opening hours — in 1999, 2001 and 2002 — all of which were refused.