Architects slam council over Greenock cafe planning refusal

Members of the local review body will decide whether to overturn the rejection of Barr’s Cottage Café’s application for retrospective planning permission at their meeting next week.

The former bookmaker's shop on Dunlop Street was transformed into a café in 2022 when it was taken over by local man Danny Knox, who was unaware that he needed to submit a change-of-use application to start operating.

READ MORE: Greenock cafe's retrospective planning request is rejected

After becoming made aware of that mistake Mr Knox applied for backdated sign off, but was left stunned late last year when the local authority rejected his application.

Mr Knox, who has terminal cancer, then launched his appeal in a desperate bid to save his business. 

Council officials had stated that the café would have an adverse impact on adjacent residents due to odour nuisance from cooking. But Mr Knox insists his business had received no complaints or objections about its operation in the year it had been running.

An appeal statement, submitted by Nicholson McShane Architects ahead of next month’s meeting, has now slammed the council’s handling of the application and called for the refusal to be overturned.

It states: 'The sole reason for refusal is that the change-of-use will cause an odour nuisance to adjoining properties.

'Yet, by the time of the decision being made, the use had been ongoing for over a year with no complaints and no objections.

'The cafe is a valuable community resource and has garnered a loyal customer base and active public support since it opened.

'The zealous fixation of Environmental Services on a problem that doesn't exist, and the overreaction of planning in failing to counter this fixation, are each having the effect of suppressing local, community-based business in favour of big business.

'It would appear that the planners would prefer Inverclyde to have a 'drive through' culture rather than one which is locally based with local suppliers and locally distributed profits.

'The applicant is dismayed at the time taken to process the application and by the failure of Environmental Services to enter into constructive dialogue about a possible alternative ventilation strategy even when this was being discussed in-house.

'We and the applicant contend that, given the above factors, the refusal of the application should be overturned.'

Internal council emails obtained under Freedom of Information laws show discussions between planning and environmental officers about possible solutions to the ventilation and odour nuisance issues at the site.

But the architects for Mr Knox say they were not made aware of this correspondence by the council and therefore had no opportunity to pursue this.

In their original 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.

If members of the local review body choose to overturn the decision, council officers have recommended that two conditions be imposed.

They would require the café to submit exact details and specifications of the venue’s ventilation and extraction systems, as well as its odour mitigation measures, and for the premises not to operate between 11pm and 7am on any given day.

A spokesperson for Inverclyde Council said 'it would be inappropriate to comment’.

The local review body will discuss the appeal at its meeting on March 6.