More than 50 new jobs hung in the balance yesterday - because of a council ban on late Sunday trading.

Food chain Pizza Hut was planning to open a new kind of takeaway restaurant in Benfleet - one of seven new shops in the south-east - as part of a £1.2 million investment scheme which would provide 400 new jobs.

Now Castle Point Council's planning committee has approved Pizza Hut's plans for a site in High Road, Benfleet - but restricted the hours for Sunday and bank holiday trading.

Pizza Hut wants all seven shops open until 11pm on Sundays - so it is able to use a central phone number for customers to order food.

However, planning rules usually only allow businesses in the High Road to open until 4pm on Sundays.

A planners' report stressed that Pizza Hut maintained if it was not allowed to stay open until 11pm on Sundays, it might not be able to justify opening an outlet in Benfleet at all.

Planning director Ian Burchill said later opening could cause problems with late-night noise and disturbance for neighbours.

For this reason, the committee decided the takeaway's closing time on Sundays and bank holidays should be 4pm - the same as neighbouring traders.

The first such Pizza Hut delivery and takeaway shop recently opened in Barking. The company has plans for others to follow in Aylesbury, High Wycombe, Luton, Reading, Rainham and Chelmsford later this year.

A spokesman for Pizza Hut said the company was still considering the council's decision.

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