Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber, KIlmory, Lochgilphead

Contact: Fiona McCallum Tel. No. 01546 604392 

Items
No. Item

1.

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Lorna Douglas, George Freeman and Sandy Taylor.

2.

DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST

Minutes:

Councillor Mary-Jean Devon declared a non-financial interest in this Application as she was known to the Applicant.  She left the meeting and took no part in the hearing.

3.

CIVIC GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 1982: APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A LATE HOURS CATERING LICENCE (A J RUSSELL, TOBERMORY)

Report by Head of Governance and Law

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and introductions were made.  He then outlined the procedure that would be followed and invited the Applicant to speak in support of his application.

 

APPLICANT

 

Mr Russell referred to the concerns raised by Environmental Health about noise in the community after the local pub closed.  He said that he had a trailer in the 1980s and there were no issues then.  He commented on the concerns about noise and said that there was a lot of noise when bands were playing in pubs especially in the summer when the doors were left open which caused the noise to echo around the area.  He said this problem was solved by closing the doors.   He also referred to camper vans visiting the area at certain times of year.  He said that the occupants were unsupervised and played music at all times.  He advised that his trailer would be run and supervised by him.  He said that when he had his previous trailer if he thought things were not going well he would close up the trailer.  He said that if customers did not co-operate he would close and after a few months people realised that if they were noisy they would not get served.  He said that he was not interested in creating problems and that he was looking to run a nice business in his retirement.  He pointed out that at the end of the night there was nowhere for people to go for something to eat and that this created problems in its own right.  He said that he has noted that Environmental Health were asking that he should close when the pub closed.  He said that when he closed up he needed to open the back doors of his trailer to let the heat out.   He said that this would release the smell of food and he suggested that when people left the pub at closing time they would be attracted by the smell of the food and be upset if they could not be served.  He referred to previously working as a door man at licence premises and said you could not throw people out the pubs at closing time anymore.  He said that people could still be coming out at 2 or 2.30 am, certainly in the summer.  He said that they would be waiting for taxis.  He advised that the door men for the local pub were employed till 3 am to make sure everyone had left.  He commented that people were hanging about the street until 3 am.  He said that he could be feeding them at that time.  He said that he would be supervising and feeding those hanging about.  He suggested that they would come out of the pub quicker if they had something to come out for.  He said that at the moment they were standing around waiting for taxis, causing mischief.  He said that hopefully this would settle down as they will have had food.  He said that he lived on the Main Street and has not come across the noise he has been told about.  He said that he was not looking to cause noise on the Main Street.  He advised that if he thought the van was going to create a problem he would close it.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

 

Mr MacKinnon referred to Environmental Health’s objection to the proposed hours of operation and the possible effect this could have on the local community due to patrons from the public house Macgochans congregating in the car park.  He referred to the rock face and said that noise filtered up into the upper streets of Tobermory and that people could potentially be affected by the noise generated by people coming out of the pub and staying in the car park.  He recommended that the operating hours be tied to when the pub closes, ie 1.00 am and possibly later on some occasions.

 

MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS

 

Councillor Moffat sought and received confirmation from Mr McMillan that neither the Police nor members of the public have objected to this Application.

 

Councillor Trail asked Mr Russell if he was operating his van at the moment.  Mr Russell confirmed that he was not.  He said that he had operated a van in the 1980s.  He confirmed that he had a trailer and that he had laid out money buying equipment and he was just waiting to get set up and opened.

 

Councillor Trail asked Mr Russell what hours he proposed opening.  Mr Russell advised that be wished to be open a maximum of 11 pm – 3 am.  He said that it was his intention to be only open for 1 hour after the local pub closed.  He said that on Friday and Saturday nights the pub was open until 2 am.

 

Councillor Redman asked Mr Russell how many people he would employ.  Mr Russell advised that he would be working by himself.  He said that he would probably employ one other person to cover holidays but generally he would be the main worker.

 

Councillor Redman asked Mr Russell if his business would bring economy to the island.  Mr Russell replied that apart from making a living for himself he would be giving the tourists and locals somewhere to spend their money.

 

Councillor Colville sought clarification on the opening hours of Macgochans pub and asked if they were the same all year round or if there were seasonal variations.   Mr McMillan advised that they did not have seasonal variations. He said that the hours of the full premises licence was from 11 am till 2.00 am with the exception of Sunday which had a later opening time of 12.30 pm.

 

Councillor Colville questioned what happened in the winter months.  He asked if a premises could chose to close early or not open at all.  He asked Mr Russell if he would mirror the hours of the local licenced premises or if he proposed opening until 3 am all year round.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.