Agenda and minutes

The Democratic Services Officer advised the meeting of the procedure.

There were none.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officeror a member of his staff before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

There were none.

There was none.

The minutes of the meetings of the 24^th September 2018 and the 11^th October 2018 were approved as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

The Chair will, if required, explain the procedure.

The Chair drew attention to the procedure to be followed for the next item of business.

Applicant: Thomas Dollar and Rebecca Paisley trading as “Bernard’s”

Objectors: Mrs A Robins, Dr W Mistral, Mrs J Mistral, Mr M Rutherford

The parties confirmed that they understood the procedure to be followed for the hearing.

The Public Protection Officer presented the report.

Ms Paisley and Mr Dollar stated the applicant’s case. Ms Paisley said that the application was to sell food and beverages from 06:00. She did not think that their van would cause obstruction, because the pavement is fairly wide at that point. They were aware that there were a lot of tourists in that part of the city and wished their business to be considered an asset. She submitted that pitch 28 was separated by the road from the residential area. Any kind of hot food business gives rise to aromas, but the van would be in a fully open location and smells would be dispersed. Chips would not be sold. Objectors had expressed concern about noise, but cooking would be by gas, and there would be no electric generator. Trading would cease at 16:00, so late-night revellers would not be congregating around the van. All packaging and cups would be recyclable. Food provided would include bacon and other sandwiches, filled rolls, cakes, soup, coffee, hot chocolate and water. There would be vegetarian and vegan options.

In reply to questions from Members, Ms Paisley and Mr Dollar stated:

• There would be a waste water container, and slops left in cups would be emptied into it and removed from the site.

• They would be prepared to amend their starting hour from 06:00. They would like to begin early enough to serve people going to work, and would accept 08:00 as the start time.

• It would take about 30 minutes to set up before the start of trading and about the same time to pack up at the end of the day.

• The van does not have an extractor for cooking smells. This would not be very helpful as an extractor would have to have an outlet to the street any way. The van has two vents. There are already restaurants and other premises selling hot food and producing smells in the vicinity. They thought it unlikely that smells emanating from their van would be detectable in the residential properties on the other side of the road.

Mrs Robins stated the case for the objectors. She said that objectors were concerned about the health and safety implications of this application. There are frequent traffic jams on the road in the morning, and buses are picking up and setting down passengers throughout the day. Passing drivers might be tempted to stop their cars in order to buy from the van, adding to congestion. The pavement near the pitch was only 14 feet wide, so that people would have to pass it in single file. There was also a danger of customers of Bernard’s stepping out into the road. There were two trees and a large Council waste receptacle nearby. People  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.