Objectors have sunk a plan to turn Arbroath’s controversial seafront ‘blue loo’ into a lobster shack takeaway.
The disused public convenience at Old Shorehead, close to the Angus town’s last working boatyard, was the subject of local businessman John Carswell’s £30,000 conversion plan for a seafood takeaway of the type doing brisk business in other parts of Courier Country including the Fife coast.
But the proposal left a sour taste with objectors, who said the proposal would blight the historic Fit O’ the Toon.
The toilet block is one of a number across Angus closed by the local authority a number of years ago and put up for sale.
Mr Carswell said he hoped the creation of a crab and lobster shack would be an added attraction for locals and visitors to the town’s harbour area, but Alex Smith, mine host of the nearby Commercial Inn, criticised the proposal.
“This offers absolutely nothing to enhance the area or encourage people to the Fit O’ the Toon,” he said.
“This will be a takeaway selling high fat, low quality food to people and will do nothing to promote the local produce of the area.”
Rejecting that suggestion, the applicant’s architect, Paul Fretwell said: “The intention is not burger and chips, it’s a hot lobster and crab shack.
“Mr Carswell is a well-known local businessman and wouldn’t want to do anything to negatively affect that. The building is a standalone property and we feel it would be a valuable addition to the area.”
Arbroath councillor Alex King said: “This building has been the subject of controversy for virtually the whole of its existence.
“There have been suggestions it could have been art gallery like the one residents have created at East Haven, and that was an opportunity residents had.
“That has not happened and I believe this is an intelligent and interesting use of an otherwise redundant building.”
Officials had recommended conditional approval of the plan, but Angus development standards committee convener David Lumgair moved refusal on the grounds of unacceptable local impact.
Supporting refusal, Councillor Richard Moore said: “Looking at it, the easiest way to enhance the conservation area is with a bulldozer. This building is a blot on the landscape.”
The committee refused the application by eight votes to four.
