A POPULAR local venue which lost its right to play music in its outdoor area following just two objections has won an appeal against the 'surprising' decision.

Members of Inverclyde Council’s Local Review Body overturned a decision to impose a music ban on the Inverkip Hotel.

The Main Street premises had lodged an appeal after it was granted permission to keep using the outdoor area it added during the pandemic, subject to several conditions.

The conditions included a stipulation that no music should be played in the outdoor area at any time, which the business’s owners said would make the space ‘empty and un-atmospheric’.

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Conservative councillor Graeme Brooks, who moved that the council should uphold the appeal, told the meeting he was surprised the condition had been imposed in the first place.

Councillor Brooks said: “Inverkip Hotel is a well-established and well-run environment as a hotel and a restaurant and obviously a place to consume alcohol.

“It’s been so long established that it’s a part of the community.

“My understanding is that the people who choose to run this run it for the benefit of the community and not to go against the community.

“I’m actually surprised that condition two [which prevented music from being played] was in the actual application so I would move that we uphold the appeal.”

In its first submission, the hotel claimed the outdoor area had bee a ‘critical’ element of its success and in its subsequent appeal it said the ‘subtle low-level’ music played in the area was an essential part of creating a hospitable atmosphere.

The original application received two objections and a further objecting representation was lodged after the hotel lodged their notice of review.

The further objection was submitted on behalf of a nearby resident and claims that the continued use of the outdoor seating and dining area would have a ‘profoundly adverse impact’ on the health and wellbeing of the local man.

It argues that the outdoor area creates a ‘unacceptable vehicular congestion and obstruction’ and causes parking problems on the street.

It is also claimed that the proposal to remove the music-related condition would increase the ‘already high’ instances of singing and shouting.

After considering the hotel’s appeal and the other submissions, councillors decided to remove the condition and replace it with an alternative stipulation.

The new rule states that music can be played from the outdoor seating/dining area, but it shall not be at a level which can be heard when ‘measured subjectively by authorised officers within any dwelling or noise sensitive building with windows closed’.