Carshalton shopkeepers are celebrating after defeating a planning application which could have threatened their livelihoods.

Planning permission was submitted to replace the Total garage on Stanley Park Road with a single storey building with an ATM and a car park.

The applicant has been in discussions with Sainsbury’s as a potential occupier - which local traders feared would be the end of their businesses.

However, residents, traders and councillors were successful in defeating the proposals at the development control committee on Wednesday, November 7.

Mr Patel, 60, from Sussex Road, Carshalton Beeches, is the owner of Londis on Stanley Park Road.

He said: "It’s fantastic they have rejected it but there’s still the issue of them appealing.

"It was unexpected, but there was overwhelming evidence that people who took a survey said they didn’t want it.

"It is a win at the moment and a bit of a relief."

He said if a big supermarket had come in it would have been the death of his business and he thanked Carshalton South and Clockhouse councillors Tim Crowley and Peter Fosdike for fighting on their side.

Deputy leader of the opposition, Coun Crowley, said: "We are very concerned a supermarket there would drive away business from the business district.

"This is about localism - I put out 400 leaflets and got 100 back. That’s unheard of - 99 out of 100 people were saying that they wanted to keep the petrol station and people like Dilip Patel who will be put out of business."

Councillor John Leach, chair of the development control committee said: "The committee felt that the size of the application did not protect the vitality of the local shopping centre and therefore rejected the application."