Garage in Fife which became unauthorised hookah bar sees new plans turned down

Fife Council has rejected a bid to snake the old garage in Dunfermline into a dessert shop with a seating area. The application was lodged by Mr M Arslan, of Glenrothes, and refused by the local authority for a second time.

He previously transformed an old garage behind a row of shops and flats on Duncan Crescent into a hookah smoking lounge. In 2022. The council denied planning permission and forced the bar to close after taking enforcement action. Now, almost a year after the council upheld that enforcement notice, new plans have again been refused.

Mr Arslan sought planning permission to turn the revamped storage building into an internal/external seating area for the House of Desserts. He envisioned that customers could walk into the shop, purchase products and enjoy them in the proposed new seating area.

“This application is to utilise the existing storage building at the rear of the shop as a seating area for the existing shop's customers,” a planning statement said.

However, planners said the proposals were similar to the previously refused shisha bar, and recommended refusal. When the plans were put before the West and Central planning committee earlier this week, that was upheld.

Planners claimed the new seating proposals would have resulted in “unacceptable significantly detrimental road safety impacts on the surrounding area by virtue of generating an increased parking demand”.

They claimed the outdoor seating area would result in “an unsafe environment for both vehicles and pedestrians.” They also said it would result in “unacceptable significantly detrimental residential amenity” on neighbouring residential properties “by virtue of increased levels of activity in a quiet backland area”.

Councillor Gordon Pryde (Labour for Dunfermline North) argued that there was plenty of public parking near the Abbeyview community centre to offset parking concerns, but committee convener David Barratt counterclaimed that it was about more than that.

He said: “It’s the location within a service yard. It’s not a pedestrian area. The planning history for this site is fairly lengthy and the reasons for previous refusals are based on pedestrian safety.”

Cllr Barratt argued that those facts haven’t changed since the hookah lounge application was refused.

Councillor Lesley Backhouse (SNP for Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy) added that the application fits in with what looks like a “very well used area”. She also highlighted that the council has received ten letters of support for the application.

However, Cllr Barratt said that placing a seating centre in the shopping centre service yard is “not appropriate”, and the other committee councillors were minded to agree. The application was refused.