COUNCILLORS Uphold Rejection Of Plan For Greenock Starbucks

STARBUCKS have been blocked from opening a £1million drive-through coffee shop in Greenock after Inverclyde councillors upheld earlier refusal of the plan by officials.

Inverclyde’s Local Review Body voted to dismiss an appeal over the rejection. Starbucks wanted to build on land zoned for industrail use at Cartsdyke Avenue beside the RBS mortgage centre next to the A8.

Local Review Body chairman Councillor David Wilson said: “I would have liked to have seen it elsewhere. They could have looked at other sites.”

Planning officials rejected the bid saying it was contrary to Inverclyde’s Local Development Plan. The site is part of a Strategic Economic Investment Location intended for only certain business and industrial uses. They also said it would mean the loss of high quality landscaping that was included as part of the Enterprise Zone development of the area.

A supporting document submitted to the council by Starbucks at the time stated: “The land was declared as being surplus to requirements by RBS and has then been marketed by multiple parties over a period of at least five years for business and industrial development, but with no interest and/or offers being received for these uses. “The application is simply seeking the application of a reasonable and ‘flexible planning policy approach…to meet changing market demands’.”

Starbucks had said the coffee shop would employ 20 to 30 staff, around half of whom would have been full-time. It would have been open 6am to 11pm, seven days a week, and would have had an outside seating area.