A developer has lost a council appeal to turn a former bank in Thornliebank into a takeaway as it is claimed there are already enough fast food outlets in the area.
Robinbrook Ltd wanted to change the use of the old TSB on Main Street, Thornliebank, but planning officials ruled the proposal would lead to too many takeaways.
The firm called for the decision to be overturned as there has only been interest for takeaway use during a six-month marketing campaign.
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But it was upheld by East Renfrewshire Council’s planning local review committee as councillors agreed the development would cause overprovision.
Provost Mary Montague, Labour, said: “There are a number of places there that do takeaways, although they are not classed as such. It just seems to be an overprovision of that kind of business.
“I don’t see that necessarily is footfall-generating; many of the establishments there are open at night. They’re closed during the day, so it certainly doesn’t do much for the vibrancy of the area.
“Given that it is an area that does need regeneration, I would particularly want to leave it a while longer to see if something can be done with those premises rather than adding to what seems to be an overprovision.”
When the committee met earlier this month, it heard how planning officials had rejected the application as there would be a “concentration of similar uses that would further erode the mix and diversity of retail and non-retail uses within the neighbourhood centre.”
They believed this would “result in a detrimental impact on the overall character and amenity of the centre.”
However, the applicant’s appeal stated a marketing agency had promoted the building at 85 Main Street for over six months and there had only been interest from takeaways.
The appeal said: “The refusal of our application for change of use is therefore actively contributing to the vacancy of these premises and the deterioration of this neighbourhood parade.
“Whilst we appreciate and accept that there are other hot food takeaway operators within the parade, we would like to point out that both Greggs and Subway operate under a class one use, therefore we would argue that our application for change of use does not contribute to a concentration of hot food takeaways within the parade.”
It claimed online shopping rather than an over concentration of takeaways had caused the decline of the high street.
Councillor Paul Edlin, Conservative, said the argument was “finely balanced”.
He said: “This is a particularly deprived area of East Renfrewshire, I am conscious that by allowing this to go ahead we will create probably 20 plus jobs in the facility and provide a facility for people that if we don’t grant this will just leave an empty building.”
Committee chairman Councillor Jim McLean, Conservative, also said politicians had to decide between the potential jobs boost and the overprovision impact.
He said: “I tend to swing that way myself, there will be an overprovision there."
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