Restaurant bid must serve more information before planning application for the change of use at Whisk Away in Inverness from a café to a restaurant is granted by Highland Council
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
An applicant hoping to turn a city centre take-away café into a restaurant will need to provide more information if their planning application is to get approval.
Nyomi Dixon is hoping to get permission for the change of use at Whisk Away – a property which has previously been a hairdresser, in Baron Taylor’s Street, Inverness.
However, Highland Council’s transport planning team, which is a statutory consultee, has formally objected to the proposal due to a lack of information relating to the public floor space in the café.
In her response, case officer Lauren Neil said she had previously asked the applicant to clarify the area and had received a screenshot showing the rough location of a counter.
She added: “Unfortunately this information is not sufficient.
“In order to assess this application and determine the developer requirement for financial contribution for a lack of car parking, the applicant is required to provide the public floor area in metres squared.
“As the applicant has not provided the information required to assess this application, the transport planning team now formally object to it.”
Similarly, the council’s environmental health team has also requested more information.
In a response, environmental health officer Zoe Skinner said: “I understand that the proposed development is for the change of use from an existing retail premises into a restaurant.
“The proposed development is located below several residential flats. However, there is very little information provided with the application on which I can make an informed assessment.”
She added that, because there was insufficient information, she was objecting to the application until it had been provided.
The requested information included: A floor plan detailing the internal layout of the premises; a brief description of the type of catering proposed; a brief description of the type of catering equipment to be used; details of the kitchen extract system; and confirmation as to where waste/recycling bins will be kept.
A council spokeswoman said a take-away café service was entirely different to a restaurant.
