Open all hours bid over after complaints
A company has had to scrap its retrospective application to keep a Perthshire petrol station lit up and open all night after complaints.
Perth and Kinross Council had told Norwich-based Certas Energy its bid to keep Youngs Garage in Birnam open 24 hours a day could not be supported after its environmental health officers concluded the operation was having an impact on “local amenity”.
Planning officer John Russell wrote to the company asking it to consider restricting opening hours to appease townspeople who had complained about the business and it has now withdrawn its application saying it will reapply to stay open fewer hours.
It comes after Dunkeld and Birnam Community Council objected to the application on behalf of residents saying: “We do not consider that the proposal enhances the local environment. [Instead], with the 24 hour LED lighting of the petrol station canopy it introduces a very urban feel to a rural village environment.
“In addition to the issue of the 24 hour lighting of the facility, the 24 hour operation of the facility is creating unacceptable noise and disturbance for local residents.
“In conclusion we consider that this application for 24 hour operation of the petrol station in Birnam fails to provide any great benefit to the local community and instead poses an unacceptable burden on the community.”
Tammy Brantley, head of health, safety and environment at Certas Energy, has since written to PKC saying: “Our retail team are currently reviewing transactions
Sam will be competing in the London Marathon this weekend by hour to see what is a reasonable time to begin and cease operations.
“We are also investigating various lighting technologies to automatically turn the lights off and on, but also with a motion sensor potentially if someone were to arrive on the site to avoid us having potential claims for slip/trip fall incidents or other kinds of incidents on the site due to darkness.
“Once we have all of those issues resolved we will look to resubmit an application, probably within the next couple of weeks.”