Health campaigners have welcomed a proposal to limit the number of takeaways in small shopping parades and centres to no more than ten per cent of units.

The city council has proposed the limit as part of a new planning policy for local shopping centres following a surge in planning applications for chippies, Indian and Chinese take-aways, pizza parlours and kebab shops.

They are increasingly being met with protests from shopkeepers, residents and public health officials.

But attempts by the city’s planning committee to call a halt to the surge have, in the absence of a clear planning policy, been met with costly legal action and an unsympathetic response from Government inspectors.

The new policy highlights 73 shopping areas, grouped into three categories – town centres, of which Sutton Coldfield is the only one, 18 district centres which include Erdington, Kings Heath and The Swan and smaller neighbourhood centres such as Scott Arms, Sparkhill and the Maypole. The new guidelines aim to balance the level of retail, professional and financial services, social and community use and restaurants, bars and takeaways in a shopping area.

It suggests that in key town and district centres at least 55 per cent of ground floor frontages should be retail, with the figure reduced to half in smaller neighbourhood centres. The policy also aims to avoid clusters of non-retail uses and opening hours could be a key consideration.

Crucially the draft policy states: “In order to avoid an over-concentration of hot food take-aways within a town, district or neighbourhood centre, no more than ten per cent of units shall consist of hot food take-aways. Applications will normally be refused where this figure will be exceeded.”

This policy also applies to smaller shopping parades. For those with fewer than ten shops a maximum of one take-away will be allowed.