A Macclesfield councillor objecting to a licensing application for a new Premier shop in the town said she is disappointed the premises have already been altered without planning permission.

Samar Mahmood has applied to Cheshire East for a premises licence to sell alcohol at the proposed new shop on Park Lane from 7am to midnight, seven days a week.

The alcohol would be consumed off the premises.

The licensing sub-committee was told on Tuesday (February 10) the applicant runs three successful shops in the Manchester area – one licensed until 2am – and there had been no complaints or issues.

Ward councillor Liz Braithwaite (Lab) raised various objections at the meeting, including lack of parking and impact on residential amenity, but was told most of those issues were planning matters rather than licensing.

A planning application to convert the premises, which was previously the Last Orders pub, has been submitted to Cheshire East but has yet to be determined.

Cllr Braithwaite, who argued the location was unsuitable, said: "As cumulative impact can't be taken into account in this application, I would ask that the sub-committee look at limiting the hours until the planning application, where a thorough assessment of parking and residential amenity etc will be undertaken."

She added: "I am disappointed the premises has been altered quite drastically without the benefit of planning permission.

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"For the purposes this meeting, I would ask that any hours granted are reasonable for what is mainly a residential area."

Another objector, Michael Barnett, told the meeting there were already shops in the area with late-night licences.

"The area is littered with broken glass and cans," he said.

"That is one of my objections. I really don't think we need yet more."

Tony Clark, representing the applicant, told the committee the hours being applied for were reasonable.

He said being a Premier store, the shop would be stocked with a range of different goods.

"People don't just go into these kind of stores, Premiers, to buy alcohol. It's not an off- licence," said Mr Clark.

He said Mrs Mahmood is making a significant financial investment in the shop and wishes to protect the area and local community.

"If there's issues with broken glass in the area, this is not something that my client or myself would like to see continue in the future," he said.

"But you can't place any evidence on any of these previous issues that have been raised, because the shop's not been open."

He added: "Quite simply, no one benefits if the area isn't maintained and cared for.

"So, this business will be operating in a safe, legal, compliant and professional, responsible manner."

Mr Clark pointed out there had been no objections to the licence application from any of the authorities, including the police.

The committee retired to make a decision, and the applicant will be informed of the outcome within five working days.