Fosseway Garden Centre at Moreton in Marsh has been granted permission to widen its product offering, despite local protests that businesses in the centre of town would suffer as a result.

Cotswold District Council’s planning committee approved by nine votes to one (with four abstentions) the centre’s application to sell a wider range of oak furniture, pet products and Christmas goods.

The council received 67 letters of objection expressing concerns about the affect on town centre shops.

Tim Godwin, the garden centre owner, said : "We are a garden centre and we have no intention of being anything else. We are a local business trying to succeed and secure local jobs."

Councillor Margaret Rickman said she did not believe the application posed a threat to town centre businesses. “I think small businesses are always looking to blame someone for why they are failing."

Councillor Joe Harris said: "I don’t think tourists go to Moreton to go to the garden centre – they go to look at the heritage. If local business can’t handle this they might as well just close now."

The council will impose a condition that Christmas goods are sold no earlier than October.