A pub has been given permission to install an ANPR camera in its car park, after "inconsiderate" use by non-customers.

North Herts Council has approved an application for a four-metre-high pole with a mounted Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera to be installed at The Coopers Arms in Hitchin's Tilehouse Street.

It will be operated by Euro Car Parks, with the camera recording cars entering and leaving the pub's car park.

A design and access statement accompanying the application says the ANPR camera "is necessitated due to the pub's location within a busy town centre and the inconsiderate past use of the car park by non-patrons of the pub".

It continues: "The system installed will allow visitors of The Coopers Arms to utilise the car park on a console registration process. This ensures that the car park isn’t constantly full with long-stay parkers utilising free spaces, creating space for paying customers."

The pub is a Grade II-listed building within the Hitchin Conservation Area, but the council's conservation officer said that "the proposal will not result in harm to either the setting of The Coopers Arms, or to the character and appearance of the Hitchin Conservation Area".