Changes at dental surgery approved

Councillors have backed a move which will allow Brodick to retain a dental surgery.

Members of North Ayrshire Council’s planning committee endorsed a bid which will allow retiring Bruce Jenkins to sell his surgery on.

It comes after the Brodickbased dental surgeon lodged an application for the removal of a condition which meant only he could operate the practice.

Permission was granted in 2004 to allow the subdivision of the Manse Road property and authorised part change of use, to allow the surgery to operate from the premises.

But conditions attached restricted the use to the applicant only and no other person.

However, councillors heard last week that the dentist had asked to remove the condition.

Chief planning officer James Miller told councillors: 'The application is to allow the continued use of a dentist’s surgery sitting as part of the house.

'It was a personal consent granted by the planning committee and therefore has to come back to the planning committee because that condition is being removed.

‘It’s been in use for a goodly number of years, the existing dentist is retiring and wants, obviously, the practice to continue.’

He added that there had been no objections to the application and continued: ‘Use as a dental surgery is an appropriate use within a residential area, there is no record of planning breach or any complaint regarding this operation; it’s become well-established and there’s no reason to suspect that the operation would change if it was operated by a different dentist.’

A second planning condition which restricts the surgery’s opening hours to 8am until 6pm, Mondays to Fridays, will remain in place.

Ardrossan and Arran councillor, Timothy Billings proposed a motion to grant the application, which was backed by the committee.