PEOPLE power has won the day for the Puccino's coffee bar in its year-long battle for the right to stay open.

And councillors and the owner at the centre of the wrangle today united to say the decision was a victory for common sense.

A meeting of Blackburn with Darwen Council's planning committee last night overturned an officers' recommendation to close the Puccino's coffee shop, in King William Street, because it contravened town centre shopping policy.

The council had originally ordered Ian Finch to close his franchise last September -- prompting a public outcry which included a 3,000 name petition and a deluge of letters to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

And after his re-submitted planning application was finally approved, the Barrowford businessman thanked local people and his local paper for backing the campaign.

Mr Finch opened Puccino's a year ago, and did not get planning permission because he had been told by solicitors working for the franchise that councils did not treat retail use and hot food use differently.

Blackburn with Darwen does and councillors voted to close the venue because it was breaking its policy of attracting shops into the town centre.

The public outcry prompted former planning chairman Frank Connor to offer Mr Finch a second chance and call for the application to be reconsidered.

But when reports for last night's planning committee were published, officers again recommended refusal on the grounds that it contravened policy, left Marks & Spencer isolated as the only retail outlet on its section of the street and affected the vitality of the town centre.

Opposition was also received from the Bradford and Bingley, Puccino's neighbour, and the owner of the nearby Muffin's Coffee Shop, Town Hall Street, who vowed to also defy planners and find a site on King William Street if Puccino's was approved.

But councillors voted unanimously to approve the plan.

Coun Sue Reid, a Labour councillor, said: "Although no-one can condone the arrogance shown here towards planning laws, the fact of the matter is that it does not affect the vitality of the town centre. We need more places like it.

"It doesn't leave Marks & Spencer isolated, it has the shopping centre opposite it. I think common sense needs to prevail here."

Lib Dem leader Paul Browne said: "I supported this last time and will again." After the meeting, Mr Finch, of Wheatley Lane Road, Barrowford, who invested his redundancy money from Rolls Royce into the franchise, said: "All I can say is thanks to the 3,008 people who signed my petition. "I can't thank the Lancashire Evening Telegraph enough either. It is the support which has meant I will stay in business."