A trendy coffee chain has narrowly missed out on its second attempt in 18 months to open a shop in Skipton.

Some Craven district councillors admitted they had changed their minds since voting against the first application by Costa Coffee, because trading conditions had changed significantly due to the credit crunch.

Almost half of Craven District Council’s planning committee said they now supported the plan to turn a Grade Two listed building in Sheep Street into a ground-floor coffee shop as it was one of 12 town centre shops standing empty and Costa Coffee would create 10 badly-needed full-time and part-time jobs.

And Coun John Roberts (Cons) urged councillors to support the application. He said Craven’s teenagers craved somewhere “cool” to meet their friends.

But committee chairman Coun Richard Welch (Cons) used his casting vote to defeat the change of use from retail to mixed retail and coffee shop.

Costa Coffee’s plans were previously rejected by planners in the summer of 2007 and the decision was upheld on appeal.

Fierce critic Coun Marcia Turner (Cons) said the bid should be thrown out again as it undermined the council’s policy to reject applications for new cafés on the ground floor.

She said the council’s strict stance had helped the town win the Great Street of the Year award and shoppers would only continue to come if there was a sufficient variety of retailers. She said the second application was identical to the first and should be refused on the same grounds.

“I have fought hard for this policy for the simple reason that people who come to Skipton don’t come to go to a coffee shop, they come to shop,” she said.

Costa Coffee agent Gareth Glennon said there had been no interest in the Sheep Street premises – a former mobile phone shop – from retailers and it had been empty for two years.

“There are 12 vacant units in Skipton centre and there is a risk of creating a dead frontage,” said Mr Glennon. “Worse is to come. Next plans to relocate to the Belle Vue site in Skipton and with the rationalisation of banks there will be a significant drop in the footfall.” He said Costa Coffee was an internationally-renowned brand, which provided real career opportunities for its employees.

Coun Roberts said: “Costa Coffee could be somewhere cool for teenagers to meet their friends. Other coffee shops in the town are just not cool enough.”

Coun Robert Mason (Ind) said he had had a change of heart and would vote in favour. “This application is no different to the first, but the initial one was submitted pre-credit crunch. I am going to change my mind,” he said.

“Look at that shabby old shop. How many more empty shops are we going to see and I don’t know how many jobs have been lost in retail and in cafés. These plans will create a small number of jobs, but the way things are going, that will be very valuable.”

Coun Stephen Butcher (Cons) said the committee was “burying it heads in the sand” if it rejected the application. “We are going to be a high street of banks, charity shops and empty shops,” he said. “Costa Coffee is upmarket and I think we have got to have some upmarket shops on the High Street. This is somewhere where the old and young can go.

“We should be grabbing Costa Coffee with open arms. Things have changed a lot over the past 18 months. People don’t have the money to run small businesses.”

Coun Carl Lis (Ind) said unless Costa Coffee was welcomed, the shop would stay empty for at least another 18 months. “Ten jobs are 10 jobs and I think these days we have to look at things rather differently,” he said.

But Coun Ken Hart (Ind) accused the agent of scaremongering. And planning officers warned that the council should be careful not to set a precedent.

Five councillors voted for the plan and five against with one abstaining. Before using his casting vote to reject it, Coun Welch said: “Nothing has changed other than the economic climate.”

After the meeting Leeds-based couple Shish and Smila Patel, who want to run the Skipton Costa Coffee franchise, said: “We are really disappointed in this decision as we have invested heavily in this venture. We would have loved a presence in Skipton.”

They already run Costa Coffee shops in Ilkley, Guiseley and Northallerton.