A war of words has broken out over Kinross Beer Garden.
We reported on Monday that Perth and Kinross Council planners ordered the removal of the premises from Market Park by July 20.
Kinross-shire Civic Trust has since been criticised online for objecting to the owner’s planning application for an outdoor seating area on the site last year.
The organisation has responded with a statement that includes a claim that the beer garden has been “disingenuous”.
But the beer garden hit back, accusing the trust of “concert party intervention” in relation to the original application.
Beer garden to remain for rest of summer
The row comes as the facility’s future has been assured for the rest of this summer.
It has operated each summer since July 2020, when planning regulations were relaxed during the Covid era.
But with Covid restrictions now lifted, the council issued an enforcement notice because the site does not have planning consent.
The notice also referred to complaints the council had received.
Market Park is owned by Kinross Estate, whose director Jamie Montgomery was instrumental in setting up the beer garden.
He says he will now lodge a planning application by July 20, which will put any enforcement proceedings on hold until next summer.
‘As a business owner it is his responsibility’
A ‘save your beer garden‘ petition has collected more than 2,200 signatures since being set up on Sunday.
In spring 2022 Green Hotel, which operates the facility, lodged a planning application that it withdrew due to eight objections.
One of these was from Kinross-shire Civic Trust, which has been criticised online for not supporting the popular new venue.
The trust was founded in 1991. It is a non-profit-making amenity association affiliated to the Scottish Civic Trust whose patron is King Charles III.
A spokesperson defended the organisation in a statement to The Courier.
The trust was unhappy with Jamie’s comment in our article that “a handful of killjoys are depriving large chunks of the local community of a really popular facility.”
He never referred to anyone in particular but the spokesperson said: “Kinross-shire Civic Trust is disappointed at remarks made by Jamie Montgomery in Tuesday’s Courier.
“The reason the Kinross Beer Garden is at risk of closure is because it does not have planning permission.
“Planning permission is required for temporary structures such as marquees and portacabins if they are in situ for over 28 days.
“Instead of seeking to blame others whom he brands ‘killjoys’, Mr Montgomery should reflect on the fact that as a business owner it is his responsibility to obtain the necessary permissions for his business activities, which in this case he failed to do.”
‘Disingenuous to say the least’
The statement then went on to label a social media post from the beer garden “disingenuous”.
It was in relation to a council spokesperson telling The Courier that in December 2022 an enforcement notice would be served if the marquee remained on site.
“The beer garden’s social media post claiming that they ‘have never been made aware of any issues or problems regarding the operation of the beer garden’ is therefore disingenuous to say the least.
“Although the operators appear to find it surprising and inconvenient that these planning rules exist, if temporary structures were not subject to regulation, our open spaces could be overrun by things much less welcome than a beer garden.
“The civic trust does not want to see the beer garden closed down but where planning permission is required it is our view that due process must be followed.
“We are therefore pleased to hear from our local councillors that Mr Montgomery will be submitting a planning application in the near future. If he had done so prior to opening this year’s beer garden, much anxiety and unpleasantness could have been avoided.”
Civic trust members formed 50% of dissent
Jamie responded to the statement by claiming the trust was “almost single-handedly responsible for us having to withdraw our planning application last year.”
He pointed out that of the eight objections, at least three were made by trust committee members.
These were president David Munro, chairman Alistair Smith and treasurer Ken Miles.
The trust itself lodged an objection, making at least 50% of the dissent.
“Effectively, by objecting individually and as an organisation, they were able to take the total number of objections above five, which is a key level in planning,” Jamie said.
“As a result of their ‘concert party‘ intervention, the planners made it clear to us that they were not minded to grant us the planning permission requested and that we would be advised to withdraw it.
“They went on to advise that, if we wished to continue operating the beer garden, we should continue to apply for weekly occasional licences through PKC licensing, which is what we had been doing from the start.
“This is what we were doing this year. The comment from KCT above suggests that it was our fault not applying for planning permission to operate this year.
“But that is somewhat nonsensical.
“Having been turned down last year, having spent a considerable amount of money on the first unsuccessful planning application, why would anyone in their right mind go to the time and expense of re-submitting the planning application when ostensibly nothing had changed?”
Local support ‘will strengthen our case’
But Jamie says the huge public support for the beer garden has persuaded him to reapply.
“The ground has definitely changed,” he said.
“We have been advised that it would indeed be worth re-submitting an updated planning application because now we will be able to demonstrate considerable from the local community which hopefully will strengthen our case.
“In submitting a revised planning application prior to the July 20 deadline, the notice will be lifted and the beer garden will be able to operate for the next eight weekends until its planned closure at the end of August.
“Whether we reopen again next year and beyond will depend on whether we are successful with the planning application.”
