Bosses of a pub in Auchterarder have been denied permission to keep an outdoor seating area they set up during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Staff at The Niblick put six picnic benches in car parking spaces outside the pub to make up for customer space lost inside the premises when social distancing rules were brought in.
The change of the use of the parking area was previously permitted under the council’s ‘Spaces for People, Shops and Businesses’ guidance drafted during the worst of the pandemic to provide businesses a means to boost revenue.
Bosses recently had to apply to the local authority to make the change permanent as the consent granted under the guidance was only temporary and lapsed at the end of March this year.
However council planners have now refused to let staff keep the outdoor seating area in situ any longer arguing the permanent change would rob locals of limited parking options in the town.
The decision comes after the local authority received 11 objections to the proposal during a public consultation, most of which made the point the scheme was only supposed to be a temporary measure while social distancing rules still applied.
The council’s report of handling published last week said: “A significant numbers of representation [sic] object to the loss of car parking within the town centre and see parking as a scarce resource.
“From my review of the Auchterarder Charrette documentation inadequate parking provision featured as an issue and a community dislike.
“Following the charrette process Auchterarder car parking surveys were undertaken in September 2017. This report highlighted that the Crown Inn car park was at a maximum capacity of 95 per cent on the Thursday and 91 per cent on the Saturday with demand consistent across the surveyed days.
“In the intervening period there has been an increase in housing completions with the Auchterarder settlement.
“Based on the charrette process and car parking surveys the council has purchased additional land to facilitate the increase in parking provision.
The reported added: “It is therefore counter intuitive to approve the loss of the three current car parking spaces at Crown Inn car park.”
