A Perthshire community is preparing for a legal action, said to cost around £40,000, against Perth and Kinross Council, after an “unjust” decision to give permission to convert a hotel into flats.
Members of the Social Hub Working Group in Glenfarg told The Courier they are in discussions with their legal team regarding the possibility of a judicial review following the council’s local review body voting 2-1 in favour of overturning a previous refusal of a plan to build 12 flats at the Glenfarg Hotel.
This announcement is the latest twist in a long-running saga after the hotel closed its doors in November. John Hewitt, who ran the premises, claimed he was making “heavy” financial losses and also hit out at some of the local community, claiming he and his family were victims of “malicious rumours” carried out on social media.
A planning application was subsequently lodged by Arngask Hotels Ltd, of which Mr Hewitt is a director, in December last year. However, 163 objections were received by the local authority and the council then refused the proposal in March.
The reasons for rejection were that the plan was contrary to the council’s local development plan and also contrary to Scottish Government’s planning policy.
This was then appealed and Perth and Kinross Council’s local review body met on April 26 and voted to overturn the planning officer’s recommendation to knock back the appeal.
Steve Whiting, a member of the Social Hub Working Group and former owner of the Glenfarg Hotel, said: “We were all completely astounded at the council’s decision on the matter. We just don’t comprehend, in any shape or form, how the two councillors arrived at their decision.
“I’ve had some sleepless nights over this since it happened.”
He continued: “Nobody can understand how these two councillors reached their decision. At the hearing, Councillor Giacopazzi gave one of his subjective reasons for over-ruling the planning officer as the wellbeing of Mr Hewitt’s family.
“Councillor Giacopazzi makes great play that he was serving on a quasi-judicial board, similar to a judge, but judges don’t deal in subjective matters, they deal only in facts. Also, he was well aware that we had formed Glenfarg Community Company to buy-out the Glenfarg Hotel. ”
Margaret Ponton, chair of Glenfarg Community Council, commented: “It was a really strange decision as all our comments on the hotel plan were wholly objective. It was unjust.”
And they have been joined in their criticism of the council’s handling of the matter by Donald MacKenzie, 61, former chair of Glenfarg Community Council, who said it “was a different ballgame” having a hotel closed in a rural area.
“Closing the hotel was a huge blow to the community,” he said.
“When your local authority, which you think has the promotion of its local communities as one of its key reasons for existence, ignores the decision of its officers and joins the unprincipled speculators in seeking to destroy the community, then that really sticks in the craw.”
And Councillor Willie Robertson, one of the representatives for the Kinross-shire ward, added: “I was shocked by the decision of the local review body given there were strong planning grounds for refusal.
“There were also over 150 letters of objection which I would have thought would have carried a lot of weight.
“I have written to the council to ask how I go about changing the membership of the committee from three to five members. I have been told that this will require the agreement of the full council, so I will draft a motion requesting this.”
A council spokesperson said they would not comment on the local review body’s decision.
