THE battle to rid Sawtry of its less-than-a-year-old sex shop looks set to be resumed in May.

The shop, Pulse and Cocktails, housed in the former Little Chef premises in Toll Bar Way, was originally granted a licence in December 2010 to run until March 31 this year.

In the event, remedial work to the premises and other work to comply with licence conditions meant the store – one of 23 in the Rotherham-based Cocktails chain – did not start trading until summer last year.

The company’s managing director, Graham Kidd, told The Hunts Post last month that business had been “growing nicely” since the opening.

His application to renew the licence was submitted last Friday, the day before the initial licence expired – and objections have already been submitted.

Former Cambridgeshire County Council leader, Keith Walters, who lives in the village and is an implacable opponent of the venture, has lodged an objection on the grounds that the company has “blatantly and deliberately ignored the conditions of the licence in relation to visibility”.

Diane Davis, clerk to Sawtry Parish Council, said the council shared Mr Walters’s concern about the apparent breach of the licence condition and had written to the licensing authority, Huntingdonshire District Council, to say so. But the parish was not a statutory consultee, so had no right to be heard when councillors consider renewal of the licence.

HDC said the shop was allowed to continue to trade while the renewal was determined, which would probably happen at a public hearing in mid-to-late May, following a period for the lodging of objections, which expires on April 26.