A FAMILY-run burger business in Newton Abbot has announced it will close after mounting costs involved with submitting a planning application to Teignbridge District Council (TDC).

Boss Burger, which sells a range of burgers from a site on Ashburton Road next to Dolbeare’s garage, says it is to close, though it did not give an exact date.

It comes after a complaint was made to planners in January about noise and increased traffic.

In response, the owners made a retrospective planning application to the council in May for the retention of the use of the land.

The business says it has spent ‘thousands of pounds’ and endured ‘countless sleepless nights’ writing and submitting documents to TDC.

However, for the application to be validated by TDC, the authority required further documentation from Boss Burger, chiefly environmental surveys, traffic flow reports and drawings, which the business says would simply be too costly.

‘The estimates for this are around £6,500 to £8,000, money a young family simply do not have’, Boss Burger said in a post to its Facebook page.

‘After many, many days of contemplation we have taken the decision to close the business, we do not yet have an exact date and we will continue to trade on limited hours until we do finally close’ the business added.

A spokesperson for TDC said: ‘A retrospective planning application has been submitted for ‘Change of use of part of front amenity area from residential to siting of a mobile catering unit’ for a business which began operating without planning consent.

‘This application is currently still invalid as, in accordance with our validation guide, it requires surveys and further information to make it valid.

‘This is normal practice and the information will be used to assess the application, and the impact of the business due to the proximity to residential housing’.

Boss Burger went on to thank its customers.

‘We would like to thank each and every one of our customers for their support over the past six months’ Boss Burger said.

‘From the bottom of our hearts, thank you’ the business added.