Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jan Brown, Audrey Forrest, Kieron Green, Amanda Hampsey, Daniel Hampsey, Mark Irvine, Andrew Kain, Paul Kennedy, Liz McCabe and Dougie Philand.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report by Regulatory Services and Building Standards Manager

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.  In line with recent legislation for Civic Government Hearings, the parties (and any representatives) were given the options for participating in the meeting today.  The options available were by video call, by audio call or by written submission.  For this hearing the Applicant opted to proceed by way of video call and Mrs Halo and her Agent, Ms Peet joined the meeting by MS Teams.

The Objector had advised that he did not wish to attend the hearing.

The Chair invited the Licensing Standards Officer to speak to the terms of the report.

Thereafter the procedure set out in Appendix 6 of the report was followed and the Chair invited the Applicant to speak in support of her application.

APPLICANT

Ms Peet spoke on behalf of the Applicant.  She advised that it was their understanding that using a car to access the property would be ruled out.  She pointed out that there were other bed and breakfast establishments in place which stated that there was no parking available which did not necessarily rule out visitors staying.  She advised that Mrs Halo’s property was close to the ferry and that there were also bus services at the bottom on the hill on Marine Parade and that the property was close enough for visitors to walk into town and walk to and from the ferry.  She said that Dunoon was a high profile tourist destination with a big emphasis on outdoor pursuits.  She advised that Mrs Halo proposed promoting the area as a place to visit for outdoor pursuits such as cycling, wild water swimming and walking.  She advised that people could come by ferry with their bicycles and arrive at the property that way.  She advised that Mrs Halo also proposed a minimum stay so there were less people coming every week.

She advised that there may be room to allow this licence with these plans in place which would bypass the issue of traffic.  Recognising that it would be difficult to police, she also suggested the installation of CCTV to monitor traffic coming up and down the lane. 

Ms Peet advised that Mrs Halo had been all around the town taking photographs of where cars had to come out of the same sort of junctions and it had been noted that this happened quite a lot around the town and as far as they were aware there have been no accidents.  She asked the Committee to consider granting the application on condition that the property not be accessed by car and for Mrs Halo to make it clear on her website that parking was not available.  It could also be pointed out that there was plenty of parking available on Marine Parade and Alexandra Parade so that those who were physically fit could walk to the property in order to minimise traffic on the narrow lane.

MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS

Councillor Howard asked how many residents had cars that used the lane on a regular basis.  Ms Peet advised that there were 6 or 7 residents but not all used cars.  The property at the bottom of the lane did not use the lane as access to their property was straight off the main road.  She said there were 4 properties accessed by car via the lane.

Councillor Howard sought and received confirmation from Ms Peet that the property could be accessed from the top road via a footpath.  Ms Peet said she regularly used that footpath rather than walk up from Marine Parade.

Councillor Howard sought and received confirmation from Ms Peet that there was a road and parking at the top of this footpath.

Councillor Wallace sought and received confirmation from Ms Peet that this was a public road with no restrictions and that it was used by local bus services.

Councillor Wallace sought and received confirmation from Ms Peet that the property was approximately 120 metres from parking at Marine Parade and Alexandra Parade.  It was noted that access from the top road down the foot path would be shorter.  Mrs Halo presented a map on screen to show the location of the property, the access road and the footpath down from George Street.

Councillor Howard asked if there were any statistics of accidents in addition to the one mentioned by the Objector in the paperwork before the Committee.  Ms Peet advised that she was not aware of any accidents in the 3.5 years she has lived here, with the exception of the accident mentioned in the objection.  She advised that she frequently turned left and sometimes right to access the lane and has had no issues.  She said that from personal experience she has had no issues and that as long as you positioned yourself on the road and signalled, people would wait.  She said she had not experienced anyone undertaking her.

Councillor Blair sought and received confirmation from Ms Peet that the speed limit on Marine Parade and Alexandra Parade was 30 mph.

Councillor Wallace sought and received confirmation from Ms Peet that Mrs Halo did not own the access lane but had shared right of access.

Councillor Blair commented that he was aware that there was a lot of parking available on Marine Parade.  He asked the Applicant if any thought had been given to installing lighting on the access road to assist people walking up and down.  Ms Peet advised that Mrs Halo’s husband was an electrician and would happy to install some sort of lighting if this was deemed necessary. 

Councillor Blair asked if other lane users would have any difficulty with lighting being installed.  Ms Halo advised that the other residents had been approached about this and while they did not think it would be necessary, they would not have any issue with lighting being installed.

Councillor Howard asked if there was a pavement at the bottom of the lane beside the main road, as it did not look like there was from the aerial view  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.