PEOPLE living next door to a house which could become a take away say they do not want it in their quiet village.

An application to open a fast food restaurant at the house on Market Place in Abridge was rejected by the district council in January this year.

Councillors said it would have an adverse impact on the area, would cause noise disturbances to residents and create smells and odours for neighbouring properties.

But Shanawaz Karim who owns the property has appealed the decision.

Carrie Temple, 38 from Gould Cottages, Abridge has her garden back onto the property and said: "I'm not happy about it. It makes all your washing smell of curry and there's rubbish everywhere.

"It's also a dangerous place for people to be hanging around and there's nowhere to park. It's open anti-social hours but it's mainly the smell.

"The woman who owns it dumped rubbish outside and we ended up with rats in our garden. I've already written to the council to object. It will ruin the quality of our life."

Georgina Tomson also from Gould Cottages said: "I have been living here for 28 years and we spent a lot of money on this cottage and now it gets personal.

"We don't want a fast food take away. The property is three yards away from us and it's a house, it's not suitable for a take away.

"The place has already become an eyesore of the village and it's run down and badly maintained. There's no space to park outside and it will bring in more traffic.

"The person who owns it obviously doesn't live here because otherwise she wouldn't even attempt to do this. We don't want it and we need to stand up for this village because it will de-value the price of all our houses."

Her husband Mike said: "We had trouble before when the pub started doing curries and they had a fan going for about eight months and it was so noisy.

"Imagine what the mess will be like and the smells, it's not even worth thinking about."

Ms Karim could not be contacted to comment.

People can comment on the appeal up until May 21.