A Sutton councillor is calling on residents to oppose a planning application for a new Costa Coffee.

Jayne McCoy is ward councillor for Wallington South and was saddened to see the application to fill the space left in 88 Woodcote Road which was left vacant when Dorothy Perkins closed earlier this year.

"Wallington is doing well as a district centre with a number of new businesses opening and replacing shops we have lost," she said.

"However to keep it an attractive place to visit there has to be variety."

The cover letter attached to the application said that if approved, the Costa would open from 6.30am to 8pm "in order to take full advantage of trade throughout the normal working/shopping day" with opening hours of 8am to 6.30pm on Sunday.

But Cllr McCoy worries about what another chain store might mean for independent businesses in town.

"Wallington is already well served with coffee shops so it is a shame that the landowners decided to replace a popular Dorothy Perkins with a Costa Coffee.

"We also don't want to see independent businesses crowded out by the big brands that already dominate our high streets."

She wanted to highlight the fact that people can object to turning the unit into a coffee shop by submitting a comment on the application, which can be found here.

As of publishing the story, five comments have been submitted, including Cllr McCoy's, all o which oppose the development.

"A reasonable cafe offer only works if there are other reasons to visit a district centre, in the form of retail and business," the councillor's comment on the application read.

"This change of use reduces the variety of the district centre offer as it has reached saturation point for coffee shops.

"The presence of two national franchised coffee shops in the town centre will also undermine the independent cafes in the area that our Local Plan seeks to encourage, and the council wishes to

support."

Costa have been contacted for comment.