A TERMINALLY ill Greenock café owner who sank £50,000 into the business has told of his shock after council planning chiefs refused him permission to keep the place running - despite receiving no objections.

Daniel Knox transformed a former bookies shop into the Barrs Cottage Café last year unaware that he needed to submit a change of use application for approval.

Cancer-stricken Daniel, 38, says that after realising his mistake he submitted a retrospective application and expected it to be granted without a hitch.

But council officials rejected the application, stating that the café would have an adverse impact on adjacent residences due to odour nuisance from cooking.

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Daniel, who is suffering from terminal cancer of the bladder and is currently undergoing chemotherapy, told the Telegraph that the planning knock-back was 'stress I don't need'.

Greenock Telegraph: Barrs Cottage Cafe owner Daniel Knox shocked after planning permission is retrospective refused for

He said: “I had stepped away from the business because I’m terminally ill and I’m not meant to be involved at all.

“But I’ve had to come back here now to help my brother, my sister and my missus get this place sorted so we can get it approved.

“If we don’t get this sorted I don’t know what’s going to happen, we’ve invested everything we had in this.

“It’s money we could have kept aside for my kids if I knew it was going to be this hard.

“We’ve probably spent over £50,000 just to get this place up and running.

“The only reason I’m back is because of this, I’m not allowed to work."

In their report on the decision and its handling, council officers stated that they consulted with the local authority’s public protection manager, who suggested that the application be refused.

They stated that their recommendation was due to the ‘very close’ proximity of the premises to residential accommodation and the likelihood of statutory odour nuisance being caused to residents.

The local authority notified neighbours about the application but received no representations for or against it.

Daniel said: “It’s an absolute joke, it’s been knocked back because it could be an odour nuisance to neighbours.

“Within three months of opening we were informed that we needed a change-of-use for the place, which we were flabbergasted at, but we followed the rules and applied.

“We went and spoke to our neighbours and exchanged emails with them to check that they would be happy with this.

“Some of them come in here every day now and sit with us, they have chats, coffees and a roll.

“There have been no objections at all to the application and we’ve been here a year without complaints about odours." 

Daniel said: "I’m going through chemotherapy right now just to extend my life.

“I’ve had my cry about it all and I’ve accepted it, I’m just hoping there’s some trial drug that comes through and helps me out.

“But I don’t need this, I’ve already got enough keeping me up at night and this just makes me stay up even later.

“We just hope common sense will prevail.

“If we have to shut down there’ll be jobs at risk and there’ll be future jobs lost as well because this place has been getting busier and I can see us needing more staff down the line.

“In a short space of time we’ve managed to become part of the community.

“We’re out every day picking rubbish up and we have community groups like Man On Inverclyde and Action For Children who come in here as part of their charity work.

“I don’t know why this is happening to us, we’ll be appealing as soon as we can.”

An Inverclyde Council spokesperson said: “Planning applications are considered in accordance with the Local Development Plan, national planning policy and considers consultation with internal and external stakeholders to determine the decision.

“If the applicant is unhappy with the decision, they can appeal.”