New kebab van planned outside Aldi store in Chippenham

Haci Ali Isitmen, who currently owns Karizma Barber Shop on Station Hill in Chippenham, has applied for street trading consent to operate on the road opposite Aldi in Methuen Park.

If successful, he would expand his fast food business Tiffany & Tomato, which already has a van in Yate, to Chippenham.

Mr Isitmen believes the new food premises would offer a popular service to a key area of the town.

He told this paper: “It will basically be a kebab and breakfast van serving good hygienic food, we’ll do kebabs and different styles of burgers at night and bacon rolls in the mornings.

“There’s no street food there at the moment so I thought it would be a good idea to have a van there where there is a space.

“I personally think people would like it, there is a housing estate nearby and it would be convenient for people living there.”

The Aldi store at Methuen Park, Chippenham (Image: Newsquest)

At the time of writing, Mr Isitmen was still waiting for Wiltshire Council to make a decision on his application.

But the proposal has met objection in the form of the town council planning committee, who voted to recommend rejection of the proposal.

Cllr Nic Puntis said: “I think it’s wholly inappropriate. That’s a road leading to Methuen Park… I think it would just look untidy.

“I know the road well, it just seems a very odd place to put a burger van, this is literally on the side of a road.

“I guess they think people from the Methuen Park businesses will use it.

“But I think it’s in the wrong place and Chippenham doesn’t need something like that in that type of location... can you imagine the litter and rubbish?”

Concerns were also raised that the van would block the visibility of the nearby pedestrian crossing, sparking road safety fears.

The committee recommended that Wiltshire Council reject the plans based on “site safety”, “avoidance of nuisance”, and “permitted hours.”

But Mr Isitmen has disputed claims his business would cause a nuisance or a mess.

While the application is for trading from 6am to 11pm, he said the business would only operate between 7am and 10.30pm.

He added: “Everybody deserves a chance. We will clean up while we’re there and we’ve had no complaints at our other van.

“It’s not going to be all night so I don’t see where the nuisance would come from.”