Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors John Armour, Daniel Hampsey, Paul Kennedy and Dougie Philand.

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 For this hearing the Applicant opted to proceed by way of video call and Lynn Holland joined the meeting by MS Teams along with her husband, Richard Holland, and son-in-law Chris Needham, who was joint owner of the premises.

Marion MacNeil and John MacKinnon, Objectors, also opted to proceed by video call and joined the meeting by MS Teams.

Abbie MacIver, Objector, opted to proceed by way of written submission.Ìý A copy of this was contained within the agenda pack issued on 22 August 2024 and was considered by Members as part of their deliberations.

Alan and Rita MacDonald, Objectors, opted to proceed by way of written submission.Ìý A copy of this was contained within supplementary agenda pack 1 issued on 23 August 2024 and was considered by Members as part of their deliberations.

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

Thereafter the procedure set out in Appendix 11 of the report was followed and the Chair invited the Applicant to speak in support of their application.

APPLICANT

Mr Holland spoke on behalf of his wife.Ìý He said that the property was a family investment and not purely commercial.Ìý He said the family came to Tarbert in 2015 and collectively fell in love with the area.Ìý They made a decision to invest in the area and bought Devana Croft in 2015, which had previously been a holiday home for 20 years.Ìý

He advised that they advertised with cottages.com and primarily the let was for 7 days.Ìý He said it was not an Airbnb.Ìý It was used by multi-generational families, mature guests, and family and friends.Ìý Many of the guests were walkers and enjoyed outdoor activities.Ìý He advised that many had family with historical links to the area and many were returning guests.Ìý He said that when the property was not occupied by guests it was used by family and friends.

He advised that they had set clear ground rules and conditions with cottages.com in terms of who they would accept bookings from.Ìý They have resisted adding additional features that would extend the season and potentially impact neighbours.Ìý He said that they had received great feedback from guests and advised that they have won the Customer Choice Award for 5 consecutive years.Ìý He said that they focussed on good customer service, guest safety and the local community.Ìý He said that they consistently received 5 star reviews with many being very positive about the quality of the accommodation, the location, and nearby tourist activities.Ìý He pointed out that his wife had always worked in customer care and hospitality sectors.Ìý He referred to the recent sale of the Frigate Hotel in Tarbert and advised that his wife was asked to run this and train the management team which was now complete with the hotel now open again.

He advised that Devana Croft was a unique property as it was the only one in the area able to accommodate 8 or 9 guests.

He said that he acknowledged the points made by his neighbours in their objections.Ìý He expressed surprise that these objections had gone back years.Ìý He said he was aware of the objections despite not being provided with detailed information.Ìý He said he did not recognise nor have any evidence of the issues raised.

With reference to bin collections, he advised that when they were made aware of the issue with commercial collections they arranged for their bins to be emptied by the same vehicle that emptied the bins of the neighbouring properties.

He acknowledged that the ownership and upkeep of the private road was shared by all the residents and he confirmed he had recently paid his contribution to repair the road.

He referred to dog fouling and advised that they allowed guests to bring a maximum of 2 well behaved dogs.Ìý He advised that there had been no issues he was aware of other than the one raised by Mrs MacNeill which the Licensing Standards Officer had referred to in her presentation as happening last weekend.Ìý He said that there had been no other reports of incidents over the last 6 years.Ìý He advised that as a result of the recent incident, they have reviewed access and were currently investigating a solution.Ìý He said that dogs were a common occurrence on the road.ÌýÌý He referred to neighbours’ dogs and also dog walkers using the road to gain access to walks and footpaths.Ìý He advised that of the 29 bookings taken this year, 20 of these have brought dogs.

He also referred to an issue raised by his neighbour, Mr MacDonald, about contractors parking on his grass.Ìý He said that he had visited that same day and agreed to put up no parking signs.Ìý He advised that he also spoke to the contractor in question to ensure this did not happen again.Ìý He also advised that he contacted cottages.com to update a list of contractors they would not accept bookings from.

He advised that they always received positive comments in their visitors’ book.Ìý He said this was not an Airbnb and that the minimum stay was 7 nights between April – October.Ìý He pointed out that they did not have a constant turnover of guests.

He advised that tourism was the mainstay of Tarbert’s economy, with many businesses relying on tourism.Ìý He said they would not survive without visitors coming to stay.Ìý He advised that the Scottish Tourist Board have calculated that the average spend per day, per visitor, was £42.Ìý He said that he estimated that their guests helped to generate £300,000 towards the local economy and if Devana Croft was not available to book this income would be lost to the local community.

He advised that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.