Angus councillors have been asked to justify their decision to approve a policy-breaching Starbucks outlet on the site of a former Arbroath hotel.
In March, planning appeal committee members gave the coffee chain’s bid for the old Seaforth site at Queen’s Drive the go-ahead.
The gateway site has lain empty since the landmark hotel was bulldozed after being ravaged by fire in 2006.
Several ideas have come forward for the land, including a hotel and restaurant, but none have gone ahead.
And in November last year, council officials refused permission for a Starbucks cafe and drive-thru there.
They blocked the plan under delegated powers.
Planners said that while the site had lain empty for a considerable length of time, the Starbucks proposal breached the Angus development plan.
The Seaforth site is set aside for a landmark hotel or leisure/recreation use.
How did Starbucks eventually secure permission?
The refusal decision was appealed by Starbucks to Angus development management review committee (DMRC).
And although councillors were split on the merits of the plan, the casting vote of the chairman saw approval granted.
Councillor Gavin Nicol said: “While I fully understand the officers’ reasons for refusal this is a gateway to Arbroath and has been an eyesore for nearly 20 years.
“It’s an embarrassment to the town.
“We now have the opportunity to remedy years of neglect.”
Why has it come back before councillors?
Angus DMRC meets next week and the Seaforth plan is back on the agenda.
Council legal chief Jackie Buchanan says the committee must clarify its reasons for going against the development plan.
“A decision notice therefore requires to be clear whether the proposal accords with the development plan or not and set out any material considerations considered by the review in arriving at that decision,” she says.
“All such reasons must be proper, adequate and intelligible.
“The DMRC at the meeting of March 4 determined to uphold the appeal and grant planning permission.
“It was however not clear from the deliberations as to whether the committee determined the proposal to be in accordance with the development plan or not.”
DMRC crematorium case went to Court of Session
The council recently found itself on the wrong end of a Court of Session ruling that the DMRC’s approval of a new Angus crematorium was unlawful.
In March last year, the appeal committee overturned a delegated refusal for the development at Duntrune.
But an objector won his challenge of the decision when the council decided not to fight the case in Scotland’s highest civil court.
Farmer Guthrie Batchelor’s crematorium plan will now be re-considered again by the DMRC.
And the decision rests with a newly-constituted DMRC after the court ruled the same set of councillors could not deal with the appeal.
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