Owners of a Gateshead cafe have been left “devastated” after being told to shut its doors by the council.

The future of the much-loved Ryton cafe and community hub has been brought into question after Gateshead Council refused the building a retrospective planning application.

Fed and Watered, on Middle Hedgefield Farm, has been operating for 18 months and was built during the pandemic. The cafe has since become a community fixture offering activities to tackle childhood obesity, provide a safe space for disabled children and combat loneliness for the elderly and bereaved.

However, the local authority decided the cafe posed an “unacceptable” impact on highway safety, with council concerns about increased traffic at the western entrance to the cafe. The entrance is also used to access St Hilda’s Church.

The council’s planning and development committee also determined that the cafe was “inappropriate” for the green belt.

However, the owners of the cafe, who also manage Jack and Jo’s Nursery Garden on the same site, state that in 18 months there have been no traffic incidents. The owners have also disputed the impact the cafe has on the green belt as the land in question had already been developed.

The local authority’s planning committee also acknowledged it had received 14 letters in support of the cafe. Residents wrote in saying the cafe provides vital community functions and provides jobs and volunteer opportunities for people with different needs.

Gateshead Council’s development and planning committee voted 16 to 1 in favour of refusing planning permission.

The sole dissenting councillor, Whickham South and Sunniside Lib Dem Jonathan Mohammed said: “Have we seen a large increase in footfall? It has been open and running for a little while and was a nursery for a while.

“It seems to be a nice little community hub and it would be a shame if we are just assuming there will be a lot extra traffic. It doesn’t have a lot of covers, it is a small cafe.

“It is certainly not blocking the landscape or views. The green belt thing doesn’t fit in with that. It’s an amenity which is serving the community.”

Bridges councillor and chair of the planning and development committee Bob Goldsworthy responded: “Well, that is your opinion.”

Co-owner Joanne Stanton, following the decision, said: “Obviously, this is devastating. We have school kids coming in, we have widows and bereaved husbands come in.

“Seventy-year-old parents of disabled children come here for respite. The gardens are like therapy for me, and to be able to give that to someone else is amazing.”

Joanne now plans to appeal against the council’s decision.