A GYM in Newport is applying to be allowed to open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, despite the council already expressing concerns about the idea.

Snap Fitness runs 24/7 gyms across the UK and opened its Chepstow Road facility more than a year ago having obtained planning approval in 2017.

But Newport City Council restricted the opening hours to between 6am and 11pm Sunday to Thursday, and 6am to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Councillors raised concerns that 24-hour gym would carry negative noise impacts for residents, while exacerbating existing antisocial behaviour and parking problems.

But an application now seeks to remove the “restrictive” conditions and bring the Newport franchise in line with other Snap Fitness gyms across the country.

READ MORE: ‘Successful’ entrepreneur who terrified estranged wife and new boyfriend with large knife jailed after breaching order

Ex-soldier obsessed with gory horror films who 'tortured' partner by waterboarding her is jailed

'What I witnessed is something you can never forget': 102-year-old prisoner of war recalls his struggle to survive and other memories

A planning statement on behalf of the chain says: “The proposal is required to enable Snap Fitness to offer a better and more varied service to current and future customers.”

Snap Fitness say their gyms are rarely used late at night, with only five per cent of its membership base using their facilities between 11pm and 5am.

“This amount to less than 2 members per hour which suggests that it is very unlikely that groups of members would enter together,” says the application.

Customers can only access the gym if they have a membership card, with the application adding that noise from people leaving and entering the building was “limited” by automatic doors.

An independent environmental noise survey found that gym noise levels were “insignificant” compared to the dominating sounds of traffic on Chepstow Road.

The gym is currently required by the council to play low volume background music instead of “loud bass beats”, and there are no plans to change this condition.

Newport City Council will consider the application within the next few months.