PARTY VENUE GETS BACKING

New rules for revellers says holiday park boss

A holiday park boss who has taken flak for bringing rowdy stag parties to Highland Perthshire has insisted house rules he has introduced will keep revellers in line in future.

James Ewen, owner of Boreland Farm near Fearnan, was able to convince councillors to back his bid to convert an old nursery school – plus build more lodges and chalets to accommodate more guests, as well as workers – last week despite his application attracting 36 local objections.

First the council’s planning and development management committee heard from Nicholas Grant, who spoke on behalf of the objectors last Wednesday and raised a number of concerns about the application.

These included a perceived lack of detail about how many extra bed spaces were actually going to be created under Mr Ewen’s proposal.

Mr Grant said residents found it hard to believe Mr Ewen did not know how many more beds he was seeking to provide when he submitted his application, adding there was “no doubt” a lot of locals were unhappy about his proposal owing to parties having already caused problems in the village in the past.

Defending his extension bid Mr Ewen said he was “surprised” by the number of objections it had received, claiming none of his immediate neighbours had objected and those who had objected to his application had lived in the village the least amount of time.

Acknowledging the criticism levelled at him since his decision to accept stag parties he argued more and more businesses were accepting such groups, including Crieff Hydro Hotel, he claimed.

And he added: “We encourage a more wholesome style of weekend, more about Highland Games and barbecues than strippers and pub crawls.”

Mr Ewen went on to say the “vast majority” of his guests behaved well but acknowledged there had been what he described as a “few isolated incidents” of groups going into the village and “using a private jetty”.

He told elected members he now insisted guests agree to obey house rules when they arrive or risk losing their deposits.

Mr Ewen also pointed out that with the build of new staff accommodation, staff would be on site around the clock to ensure visitors were adhering to the house rules.

Asked to clarify how many more bed spaces he was creating on top of those already provided within the farm’s existing 20-bed bunkhouse, Mr Ewen replied he would be creating “around 60” extra bed spaces.

Councillors unanimously backed the proposal but with an added condition to be worded later to limit noise coming from the farm at night.