Northampton Borough Council's planning committee was last night expected to approve plans to give council workers the right to remove the front of Jenny's restaurant in Gold Street, even if the owner did not want the work done.

The authority was expected to make the decision after council officers said the look of the building damaged the Gold Street area.

But during last night's meeting, the same council officers said further negotiations would now be held with the owner in an attempt to make sure the dramatic action was not needed.

Before the decision was made, the owner of Jenny's, Paul Roberts, told the planning committee he had only taken over the business a few weeks ago and the current shop front had been put in by the previous owner.

He said: "You want to come in and rip the shop front down because you don't like it, but I've had experts in and they've said there's nothing wrong with it. There are much worse on Gold Street."

He was backed by the councillor for the area, Councillor Tony Clarke (Ind, Castle) who added: "The council is right to want to recreate some of the original shop fronts along Gold Street, but we don't need to take a sledgehammer to crack a nut."

The council's cabinet member for regeneration, Councillor Richard Church (Lib Dem, Kingsthorpe), who is also a member of the planning committee, agreed many shops needed to be improved.

He said: "We do want to raise the quality of shop fronts in Gold Street. There are a lot that are poor and we need to improve them.
"But I hope we can resolve this with negotiations between Mr Roberts and council officers."

While the owners of Jenny's was given a second chance, the planning committee decided to take legal action against Booze City, which is on the other side of Gold Street.

The committee agreed the council should take action after the owners of the off licence changed their shop front without planning permission and refused to alter it.

Councillor Church said: "This is a lovely building but the signs on it are a disgrace.

The sooner we get something done to remove them the better."