By Richard Burdge

FEARS FOR the safety of children was among the reasons given for the refusal yesterday of an application to site a burger van near to the secondary school under construction in Kinross.

Iain Buist, of Grange of Lindores, Cupar, had applied for a variation of a street trader’s licence to allow him to operate a snack van near to the access to the new medical centre.

He told Perth and Kinross Council’s licensing committee that he intended to offer a full range of foods—including healthy options—from his van.

He maintained that it was preferable that children from the school cross the road to his van rather than making their way back into Kinross to access food shops there.

Mr Buist (33) said he would provide bins to ensure there was no rubbish left lying and the children would be encouraged to go back into the school with their purchases, using the proper crossings.

He also pointed out that reduced speed limits would be in force around the school and motorists would be expecting children to be in the area.

The police told the meeting they had no objections, but a letter from Jake Eadie of the council’s environment service asked that the proposal be rejected.

“The area where the proposed burger van is requesting to trade is on the new access into the new medical centre and will cause an obstruction to traffic accessing this,” Mr Eadie said.

“Also the private house at this locale would be caused inconvenience by vehicles wanting to park here.

“We are having trouble here at the moment without a street trader.

“The junction here is also not that straightforward for pedestrians and once the school is completed there may be a large amount of school kids hanging around this area and crossing the road.”

Also airing objections was local councillor Kathleen Baird, who said both the head teacher and the parent council wished to raise concerns about the plan, mainly on road safety grounds on what will potentially be a very busy road.

The committee was told that while a burger van operated near the school in Blairgowrie, this was on the same side as the school so did not entail children having to cross a road.

After the committee retired for a short time to debate the issues surrounding the application, convener Councillor Peter Mulheron moved that the application be refused as it constituted a traffic hazard and because of the possibility of a large number of children crossing a busy road.

His motion was unanimously endorsed by the other committee members.