A COUNCIL officer has objected to plans to convert a High Street bar into flats over noise.

A planning bid to change what was formerly Bar Sport, in Braintree High Street, into nine flats and a retail unit was submitted to Braintree Council in November.

The plans have angered local business owners, including Stuart Buckley, owner of the Boars Head pub next door.

He fears flats would lead to noise complaints and possibly force him to close.

He said: “In Braintree alone in recent years, we have lost the Bird In Hand, the Spread Eagle, Queens Head, Rifleman, Rose and Crown, Bar Sport, Baileys, Kings Head, Angel, Kings Head, Railway Tavern, Bow and Arrow, Reindeer and the Cross Keys.

“We have been working hard for 18 months and as far as we are concerned we are on a High Street, not a residential area.

“It was always our intention to do regulated entertainment – that’s why we bought a pub on the High Street.

“Next door could make a great a little supermarket or selection of shops. It’s a big retail unit so it could be an arcade of shops.”

Garry Philp, senior environmental health officer at Braintree Council, has objected to the plans because of noise from the Boars Head.

He wrote: “It would not be possible for the Boars Head to install additional measures due to the status of property.”