A councillor has compared a new Perth restaurant’s bright exterior lights to those seen in Blackpool or Las Vegas.
Willie Wilson, a Liberal Democrat representative for the Perth City South ward, has slammed developers Greene King for various aspects of the recently-opened Broxden Farm eatery in Lamberkine Drive.
The councillor states both he and other local residents find the lighting at the pub/restaurant “bizarre” and described Greene King using the name Broxden Farm as showing a “lack of courtesy” to its previous owners.
“My first point of contention is in the name Broxden Farm – the establishment is nowhere near Broxden Farm and appears to have been chosen at random by Greene King,” Mr Wilson said.
“The family who operated Broxden Farm are not at all amused at the name being given to this establishment and as far as I can ascertain, no permission from Dupplin Estates was obtained for the use of the name.
“This is a simple lack of courtesy in actually consulting locally on the matter when appropriate advice could have been given regarding the name.”
Mr Wilson, who has been a long-term critic of the development which opened in March, also claims the design of the building needs addressed.
“The bizarre lighting has been described by local residents to me as akin to the Blackpool illuminations or Las Vegas,” he added.
“Both myself and residents feel these lights are detrimental to the amenity of the local area. They detract from the business park setting and the landscaping surround along with local residential areas.
“I have taken this matter up with the council’s planning department to see what enforcement action can be taken to have the lighting either switched off altogether or at least diminished in terms of brightness or times that it is displayed.”
A spokesperson for Greene King – which operates Kingsway Farm in Dundee — said the name Broxden Farm was chosen because the carvery is located off the Broxden roundabout and the names of all their Farmhouse Inns end in ‘farm’.
The company also claim they are not aware of any receiving any complaints concerning lighting at the site.
“Since Broxden Farm opened in March, creating more than 60 full and part-time roles in the local area, we have received really positive feedback from the community and would like to thank everyone who has visited so far,” the spokesperson commented.
“Mr Wilson previously contacted us with his concerns and we offered to meet with him to discuss them.”
He added: “The design for Broxden Farm was approved by Perth and Kinross Council and was based on their planning specifications as it forms part of the business park.
“We were thrilled to have the chance to open a family dining and carvery restaurant in Perth and are delighted with the warm welcome we’ve been given by customers.”
A spokesperson for Perth and Kinross Council said: “We received correspondence from Mr Wilson on Monday regarding the lighting on the building and are currently investigating the situation to establish whether there has been a breach of planning control.”
