Stirling 'hemp cafe' given night-time green light

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A Stirling city centre cafe which uses ingredients and products from cannabis plants is to be allowed to open in the evenings.The Hemp Room Cafe at 44 Upper Craigs has been operating for around two years.However, as part of the planning permission approved by Stirling Council in November 2019, a condition restricted hours to Monday to Saturday from 8am to 6pm.Owner Claire Watson submitted an application to council planners seeking to remove the original condition so the cafe could open until 11pm.Now council planners have conditionally approved the bid, although with some elements of the original restriction remaining.In their decision the planners said: “Following consultation with Stirling Council Environmental Health, conditions had been applied to the permission granted regarding hours of operation, food preparation, ventilation system, anti-vibration fixings and noise.

The conditions were to safeguard the amenity of neighbouring residential occupiers of the flats above the ground floor unit.

The site is located within the city centre and has a variety of noise generating uses in the vicinity that open later than the application site.“On balance, it is considered that the complete removal of the operating hour’s condition is difficult to justify, however, it is considered appropriate to consider a change to the operating hours.“The environmental conditions applied to the previous planning permission for change of use from Class 1 to Class 3 have been take into account - the only environmental condition relevant to this current application concerns ‘food preparation and cooking’, and this has been re-applied to the decision on this current application.”In documents submitted with the application, agents for Ms Watson