The £66,000 beer garden at the Holiday Inn Westhill has been rubber-stamped as lawyers for the hotel giant vowed it would not disturb anxious neighbours.
The Westhill Drive complex opened up its outdoor area a year ago, but only yesterday sought a permanent licence to keep it there.
Aberdeenshire’s decision-makers had been urged to close it down, however, with one neighbour claiming noisy guests were already making it difficult for his children to sleep…
What were the neighbour’s concerns?
The 64-seat outdoor area is located at the bottom south-east corner of the building, and is open between 11am and 10pm.
Atholl Donaldson, who lives nearby, said his children had been “trying to sleep through existing noise levels for many years”.
Claiming to represent the views of “all the residents on Westhill Road”, he pleaded for the licensing board to deny it further permission.
So why was the Westhill Holiday Inn beer garden approved?
The objector did not attend the meeting on Wednesday, giving veteran licensing lawyer Archie MacIver free rein to torpedo his claims.
Mr MacIver argued the hotel had received no noise complaints from anyone living nearby.
He added: “The hotel has its own residents, with sometimes up to 150 people staying there.
“The last thing they want to do is disturb their own guests staying overnight.”
Mr MacIver continued: “The bar is not a particularly busy public bar… It’s not a local pub.”
Why did council grant the licence?
Liberal Democrat council Jeff Goodhall conceded there were “not a lot of houses about there”, adding: “I’m quite happy with the answers Mr MacIver gave.”
The board unanimously approved the licence for the Westhill Holiday Inn beer garden.
Do you think they made the right decision? Let us know in our comments section below
Meanwhile, those at the meeting agreed that information would be supplied to neighbours on how to complain about noise – should they feel it is an issue.
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