Council planning chiefs will admonish bosses at a five-star Aberdeen hotel after work on outdoor areas was completed without planning permission.
Members of the local authority’s planning development management committee yesterday instructed officials to write to the Chester Hotel on Queens Road to express their disapproval in the “most robust terms”.
Councillors were responding after voting through retrospective plans for granite seating at the front of the building and a pergola in the grounds at the rear.
The application for the west end site was backed by 11 to three.
Ross Thomson, one of four Hazlehead, Ashley and Queen’s Cross ward members at the meeting, said he wanted an “apology”.
He added: “It is disrespectful to the residents and to the council.”
The committee agreed that head of planning Margaret Bochel should write to the applicant.
Earlier, concerns were raised by ward member Jennifer Stewart about noise levels from large functions at the hotel.
She said: “The residents are not against the principle of what is there on the site, it is what is behind it.
“People are coming out and drinking, as they would at a party or a wedding, but it causes a huge amount of disturbance to the people who live there.”
The local community council had also objected to the plans amid fears the outdoor area would be a “beer garden”.
Council officials stressed yesterday that there were no such plans, and that a beer garden would not be permitted under the terms of the licence.
Hotel bosses said in a submission to the council the outdoor area at the rear would be used for small wedding ceremonies or as a backdrop for taking photos.