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Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Gordon Blair, Daniel Hampsey, Paul Kennedy and Liz McCabe.

There were no declarations of interest.

Report by Regulatory Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Building Standards Manager

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.Ìý In line with recent legislation for Civic Government Hearings, the parties (and any representatives) were given the options for participating in the meeting today.Ìý The options available were by video call, by audio call or by written submission.Ìý

The Applicant, who was unable to attend, was represented by his sister, Penny Graham-Weall, joint owner of the property.Ìý Ms Graham-Weall opted to proceed by way of video call and joined the meeting by MS Teams.Ìý

Rod McLean, Objector, also opted to proceed by way of video call and joined the meeting by MS Teams.

Bruce Godsmark, Objector opted to proceed by way of audio call.Ìý It was noted that Officers had been unable to contact Mr Godsmark by telephone to enable him to join the meeting.Ìý The Chair agreed that the hearing should proceed with those present and he asked Officers to continue to try to contact Mr Godsmark.

The Chair invited the Licensing Standards Officer to speak to the terms of the report.

Thereafter the procedure set out in Appendix 6 of the report was followed and the Chair invited the Applicant’s representative to speak on behalf of the Applicant.

APPLICANT’S REPRESENTATIVE

Ms Penny Graham-Weall spoke on behalf of the Applicant.Ìý She advised that she and her brother, Mr Beadle inherited the property from their father in 2013 and that they had let it out as a holiday home since then.Ìý It regularly had bookings for 30 weeks and was used by the family in the winter.Ìý She advised that 3 local people looked after the property and assisted with the change overs to as high a standard as possible.Ìý She confirmed that it slept 8 people and although they advertised through booking agencies a lot of people booked direct with them and that they had a lot of returning customers.Ìý She said that she was not aware of there ever being more than 8 people staying at the property and that she recognised the importance of being respectful to neighbours.Ìý She said that they had agreed to park on the road and that they have advised their guests to do the same.Ìý She advised that their guests only needed to use the courtyard to access the property and that they did not use it for rest and recreation as there was a separate decking area with the property.

She advised that the week before a booking, guests were contacted and it was pointed out to them that the courtyard had a shared access and was used by neighbours.Ìý She confirmed that their bins were clearly labelled, and guests were advised to leave excess rubbish in refuse bags in the utility room.Ìý They were also advised where to dispose of bottles.Ìý They were advised not to put rubbish in neighbours’ bins.

She referred to concerns raised about dog owners and she advised that guests were told not to have any dogs unaccompanied in the courtyard and to clean up dog mess if there were accidents.Ìý She advised that of the 35 bookings taken last year, 7 had dogs and of the 38 bookings this year, 8 have dogs.Ìý She said she would like to apologise to the neighbours for any events regarding the bins and dogs.Ìý She said that the guests’ manual had been updated and a copy had been sent to the Licensing Standards Officer.

She advised that it would be helpful to them if the neighbours contacted them at the time of any problems occurring so they could have a chance to contact guests immediately.ÌýÌý She advised that to date this has not happened.Ìý She said that they would be happy to install a video doorbell to monitor the number of people entering the property.

She then read out an email she had received from a guest that had stayed at the property last week.Ìý They advised of having a wonderful time and that the neighbours had been very friendly and had let them borrow a kayak.Ìý Ms Graham-Weall said she would like to thank the neighbour for that.

QUESTIONS FROM OBJECTORS

Mr McLean sought and received confirmation from Ms Graham-Weall that she jointly owned the property with her brother.Ìý She also confirmed that the title deeds allowed the property to be used as a short-term let.

Councillor Green commented that he understood that the title deeds of a property were not a relevant factor when considering short-term let applications.Ìý He sought comment from the Council’s Solicitor.

Ms Clanahan advised that title deeds where only ever relevant if they stipulated something that was prohibited.Ìý It was her understanding that was not the case here so they were irrelevant.

OBJECTORS

Mr McLean advised that it was his view that none of the issues have been resolved properly.Ìý He referred to the courtyard being shared with the neighbours and the holiday home, which created a lack of privacy and insecurity.ÌýÌý He said that oversight was a big issue for him.Ìý He referred to Ms Graham-Weall living in Gloucestershire and commented that she would not be aware of the overlooking or how many people where coming and going or how they behaved.Ìý He said that people largely ignored the guidelines.Ìý He said that 2 or 3 families were coming every week and by the time the problems were sorted with one family there was a need to start again with the next family.Ìý He said this created a feeling of unease all the time.Ìý He said it was not possible to know who would be coming or what they would be like.Ìý He advised that some people were friends of the owners and came with an abrasive attitude.Ìý He said changing the manual had not changed the behaviour.Ìý Changes to use of the courtyard would be minimal and any mitigation would not stop that being an issue.

He said that he felt he had to hide away and not be seen by the owners and visitors.Ìý He referred to things being taken from the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.