A Stirling city centre cafe which uses ingredients and products from cannabis plants is to be allowed to open in the evenings.
The Hemp Room Cafe at 44 Upper Craigs has been operating for around two years.
However, as part of the planning permission approved by Stirling Council in November 2019, a condition restricted hours to Monday to Saturday from 8am to 6pm.
Owner Claire Watson submitted an application to council planners seeking to remove the original condition so the cafe could open until 11pm.
Now council planners have conditionally approved the bid, although with some elements of the original restriction remaining.
In their decision the planners said: “Following consultation with Stirling Council Environmental Health, conditions had been applied to the permission granted regarding hours of operation, food preparation, ventilation system, anti-vibration fixings and noise. The conditions were to safeguard the amenity of neighbouring residential occupiers of the flats above the ground floor unit. The site is located within the city centre and has a variety of noise generating uses in the vicinity that open later than the application site.
“On balance, it is considered that the complete removal of the operating hour’s condition is difficult to justify, however, it is considered appropriate to consider a change to the operating hours.
“The environmental conditions applied to the previous planning permission for change of use from Class 1 to Class 3 have been take into account - the only environmental condition relevant to this current application concerns ‘food preparation and cooking’, and this has been re-applied to the decision on this current application.”
In documents submitted with the application, agents for Ms Watson said: “Since opening, the cafe has proven to be popular with the local community but is currently less busy due to the circumstances affecting the hospitality trade at present. Following strong levels of interest from customers our client now wishes to extend the hours of operation beyond those listed in condition 1 of the approval, to permit opening until 11pm in order to better serve the existing customer base and potentially attract more customers who would otherwise be working during the current opening hours.
“We recognise that the condition was imposed due to concerns relating to disturbing residential neighbours, however Upper Craigs has a considerable amount of late evening activity.
“The Hemp Room will continue to operate as a small cafe which will be attended by the owner or a senior staff member at all times. There will be no unruly customers leaving the premises at any time and the premises are fully enclosed to further limit any noise escaping the building.”
Before opening, Ms Watson had said she believed the cafe would be the first in Scotland using ingredients and products from cannabis plants and would offer people the chance to sample food prepared using hemp oil and drinks laced with or cannabidiol (CBD) oil. She also planned to sell CBD oils from the premises. Hemp and CBD are both legal components of the cannabis plant. Hemp is a strain of the cannabis sativa plant species whilst CBD is one of some 113 identified cannabinoids in cannabis plants. Neither CBD or hemp contains any psychoactive properties that would give a user a ‘high’. It’s claimed the use of products derived from the cannabis plant can help reduce stress and anxiety, inflammation, pain relief and promote restful sleep.
