A TEA van has been granted a licence to operate from a layby despite objections from a parish council.

Carleen Penney had applied to Cornwall Council for a street trading licence to run her Chant Tea Van from a layby in St Tudy.

She wants to use her caravan to sell sandwiches, rolls, jacket potatoes, quiches, salad, cakes, light snacks as well as hot and cold drinks.

However her plans came up against an objection from St Tudy Parish Council which said it was concerned about road safety in the area.

Mrs Penney’s application did not receive any objections from the police or highways officers.

The parish council said it was concerned that the new business might obstruct the layby or cause issues for a school bus which stops at the site.

However Mrs Penney said that she was willing to work with the parish council to allay any concerns and offered to operate her business between 8.30am and 3pm during term time to prevent any disruption to the school bus.

At a meeting of Cornwall Council’s street trading sub committee Mrs Penney told councillors why she wants to run Chant Tea Van.

She said that she aimed to use all local produce to make all her food items and said she was working with Cornish Tea.

Addressing the parish council’s concerns she said: “If there is any concern of me being in the way I will not be there at those times during the school period. I am hoping that during the school holidays I will be able to extend my working hours as I will not be obstructing any children or school buses.

“I am bending over backwards to make sure I can work with them (the parish council) and that is their only issue.”

Mrs Penney said she had monitored the site and felt that her caravan would not obstruct the bus, but was willing to make the compromise with her hours during school terms.

She said: “It is really a passion for me to do this tea van, it is something that I have invested everything into.”

Mrs Penney said that she had worked to prepare the van and had undertaken all relevant food hygiene and safety training.

She added: “I want to be there for people. I want to be a face, a local face, that people will recognise and know that sometimes there is a friendly person out there to go and have a cup of tea from.”

St Tudy Parish Council vice-chair Michael Straugheir said the council was concerned that there would not be sufficient space for vehicles to access the layby.

He said that the concerns were not just about the school bus but “road safety in general” stating that the road was busy with fast moving traffic.

The committee agreed to grant the street trading licence applied for which allows the van to operate from 7am to 7pm but with an agreed condition that it will operate from 8.30am to 3pm during term time.

Councillors said they considered the representations from the parish council but also noted that there had been no objections from highways officers or the police.