Year 2, Week 47
Hate graffiti, short term let licensing ...
Hate graffiti
I am pleased to report that an 18 year old man has been arrested and charged following an investigation into multiple reports of offensive graffiti in Nairn. The incidents were reported between November and February. The man has been released on an undertaking and will appear in court at a later date.
Area Commander, Ross McCartney said: "Offensive messaging and vandalism can have such a negative impact on our environment and community and will not be tolerated. I would encourage people to report it to us."
Thank you to everyone who has been reporting every appearance of this graffiti to me, to highland council staff for quickly removing it, and to the police for tracking down the alleged perpetrator.
I’m just thankful that this is now, hopefully, over.
Short term let licence hearings
As I mentioned last week I was at a Licensing Committee meeting on Tuesday which, among other things, considered four short term let (STL) licence applications including two in Nairnshire. I think this is the first we’ve had any in the ward come to committee so it seems like a good time to talk about this process.
Highland Council has had an extraordinary number of STL licence applications including a lot that came in late for various reasons and there is currently a backlog of about 4,000 still to process, which is being done at the rate of about 250 per month. This is bad news if you have only now decided to run an STL as you can’t start taking booking until your application is granted. People who did apply before 1st October 2023 are in a happier situation as they can continue while they wait for the licence to be granted.
Most applications are granted without a problem but about 2% have to come to the Licensing Committee because there have been objections, so about four to five a month. The way this works is that the objectors will have initially put their objections in writing and the applicant may have submitted a written reply but on the day both applicant and objectors have the chance to put their case and also question each other.
This can take a long time, especially when (as happened on one of the Nairnshire applications) several objectors turn up, either in person or on Teams, and all get a chance to make their points. As a result Tuesday’s Licensing Committee started at midday and finished late (and was preceded by Licensing Board by the way, so I had meeting from 9:30am to 6:20pm with only a couple of short breaks).
So after all of this what is the likely outcome? Well, if you’re an objector then you won’t be pleased to hear that, to date, we have yet to refuse any STL licence application.
What we have done, and continue to do, is impose extra conditions on some licences based on objections. So for example we might restrict the hours a hot tub can be used (a common source of neighbour problems) or reduce the number of guests a property can sleep.
However if you’re an objector do not be too despondent if you wanted the STL to be stopped completely as this isn’t the end of the process. Once the premises has a licence it must then stick to its licence conditions and, in the event of complaints, the licence can be brought back to Committee to be reviewed. Extra conditions can then also be added or the licence can be withdrawn.
I suspect that, as the months go by, we will start to see this happening.
Planning applications
The following new applications were logged since I last posted:
24/00965/FUL - North Kildrummie Farm, Moss-Side, Nairn, IV12 5NZ - Erection of extension
To find details search on the reference number on the planning portal where you can also find details on how to comment.