A dispute has broken out between the owners of an Angus car wash and council planning chiefs.
Staff at the Car Services car wash and second hand car sales facility in Forfar said they were shocked last week, after claiming a representative of Angus Council showed up and informed them they could be shut down for their failure to adhere to a council planning condition.
The business had applied for permission to open the car wash on Forfar’s Dundee Road several months ago on a garage site which has long had a connection with motoring over the years.
Planning permission was granted under delegated powers on the condition that the owners close the traditional Dundee Road entrance to the facility and instead open up the Glenogil Terrace entrance to the south of the site.
However, staff at the car wash said they had no idea the allotted time to appeal or comply with the conditions had elapsed and are now fearing for the business.
However, the council said the access condition had been a clear part of the planning approval and confirmed talks were ongoing with the operator over the issue.
Forfar man Sandy Anderson, who has been helping the family business, owned by Mohammed Ibrar deal with the planning application, said: ”The visit from the council representative came out of the blue and if they cut off that entrance there’s going to be lots of congestion.
”There were three near accidents there at the weekend. The solution is to keep it the way it is.”
A spokeswoman for Angus Council said the owners had been made aware of the conditions attached to the approval.
The spokeswoman added: ”The application as originally submitted proposed the use of the access on Glenogil Terrace as well as the use of an access from Dundee Road, but there were concerns that there was potential for traffic to queue onto Dundee Road itself which was unacceptable from a road safety perspective.
”A condition was attached to the planning permission to stop-up the Dundee Road access.
”At present we are in dialogue with the owner/operator and it would not be appropriate to speculate on potential action that may be taken if the matter can’t be resolved informally.”