“Absolute opposition from everyone” in a quiet village near Bath could not stop a kebab trailer coming.
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Parish councillor Peter Martin said it was hard to think of a worse location than near the junction of Ostlings Lane and Bathford Hill in Bathford due to problems with parking and speeding.
Nearly 40 residents objected but councillors said there was no evidence for the issues they were anticipating and highways officials offered no response.
The 12-foot trailer – under the business name Jason Donervan – will operate daily between 5pm and 11pm offering kebabs, chips and burgers.
Speaking at Bath and North East Somerset Council’s licensing subcommittee meeting on 29th July, Mr Martin said: “Bathford is a fairly quiet sort of village. People don’t normally make any complaints. There have been a lot of complaints about this application.
“Although there may be a case for selling from a trailer, the site they’ve chosen is entirely inappropriate.
“It’s at an extremely busy junction where a lot of cars are parked already. There’s no pavement.
“It’s extremely unlikely the residents of Bathford will be interested in using it, and if they do, most will have to come by car.
“We think it’s creating a problem in terms of accidents and congestion.
“This particular site is absolutely opposed by everyone in Bathford.”
A representative of applicant Ömer Faruk Akdeniz replied: “This isn’t a McDonald’s drive through. It’s not going to be that busy. I respect your worries but this is a trailer, not a restaurant or a shop. People order, food gets wrapped up and that’s it.”
Residents’ objections spanned from road safety to the “horrible eyesore” trailer’s impact on nearby pub the Crown and the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Others were worried about litter, rats and noise, with one fearing an increased risk of burglaries if more people drove into the village.
Another objector said: “We choose to live in Bathford as it is a quiet and safe environment for our children to walk around and is a beautifully unspoilt village. The introduction of a doner kebab van would be totally inappropriate, extremely damaging for the environment and entirely unnecessary in a village such as Bathford.”
Mr Akdeniz’s representative told the meeting: “It’s going to be a zero-waste business. We’re going to minimise the noise. We won’t use a generator, we’ll use batteries.
“This gent has a good business in Bradford-on-Avon. They don’t have any problems with him.
“We can guarantee we’ll try to do good business there. If there are any environmental, waste or noise problems we can stop operating at the site.”
The licensing sub-committee disregarded concerns about anticipated issues and said there was no evidence the trailer would cause an obstruction or a nuisance.
Councillor Rob Appleyard, who chaired the meeting said: “There will be disappointment for some. We would hope you [the applicant] would pay particular attention to the conditions. If there are any issues there’s the opportunity for this to come back to us.”
Stephen Sumner, Local Democracy Reporter
