Inverness city centre shawarma takeaway plan rejected by Highland Council
Plans for a shawarma takeaway in Inverness city centre have been rejected by Highland Council.
Applicant Hassan Mohamed had lodged an application for 19 Inglis Street, which if successful would have changed the site’s use from retail to a hot food takeaway. An image included among the application documents featured a proposed exterior sign for “Eastern Shawarma”.
The application would otherwise have led to no material changes to the exterior of the building, and simply changed its designated use.
However, the application has been refused after council officers said requests for information about possible extractor fans and filters at the site, and the route of any ducting, went unanswered.
That lack of information led to a formal objection by the council’s environment health team, who had said that “very little information [had been] provided with the application on which an informed assessment can be made”. It said its objection would stand until information on the extractor system and measures to mitigate odours for neighbouring properties had been supplied.
Confirming the subsequent rejection of the application, the council’s area planning manager, David Mudie, said: “The applicant has failed to respond to the request for further information.”
He added: “Accordingly, the application cannot be determined as there is a lack of information pertaining to the extract system and its design specifications, proposed plant equipment, details of the filters/fans to be installed and location of the extract point and the route of the ducting which would have allowed the planning authority to fully assess the proposal and its impact.”
And he continued: “Therefore, the proposal does not take into account the impact on surrounding residential amenity including visual and amenity impact, sensitive uses and the natural and historic environment of the Inverness Riverside Conservation Area.”
The site is currently being run as a sandwich bar. It is unclear if the rejection of a hot food takeaway will have any effect on its operation, as the sandwich shops usually lack the hot food cooking that requires extractor fans and odour mitigation measures. Indeed, the site has operated as a sandwich shop in the past, having housed a Subway franchise back in the late 2000s.