A new Italian restaurant planned for Billericay High Street has increased fears the town's retail industry could suffer or even die.

Tory councillor Peter Patrick, who fought against plans for JD Wetherspoon to move into the old Co-op site, wished the new business well, but questioned whether the town needed another eatery.

The most likely site is Alexander's bakery, which has already closed down.

Mr Patrick said: "I think a lot of people are shocked and disappointed about the bakery.

"They only recently gained planning permission for the building so they could offer better restaurant facilities."

He explained that as the property already has planning permission for restaurant use, nothing could be done to stop it being turned into a pizzeria.

He said the centre of Billericay desperately needed new shops.

Mr Patrick also defended a move by the last meeting of the council's Billericay area committee to ask the more powerful environment committee to take the final decision on the Wetherspoon application and another for a hardware store in the High Street to be given restaurant status.

He said: "The reason we took the action we did was because we wanted them to be decided on a higher level, a more strategic level."

The Wetherspoon application was eventually approved but the hardware store plan was turned down.

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