A Highland minister is objecting to plans to turn a former restaurant near his church into a nightclub.
The rev Gordon Mair fears the proposals for the venue at the west end of Fort William High Street could lead to “al fresco” drinking, disturbances, noise, littering and urinating in the street.
David Smillie, who runs the Volunteer Arms in the Lochaber town, has applied for planning permission to turn the Everest Restaurant into a night club.
But Mr Mair, of the nearby Fort William Free Church of Scotland, is concerned that there may not be sufficient police cover to deal with any trouble caused by people leaving the venue in the early hours of the morning.
He said: “The nightclub will be operating into the wee small hours of the morning and there is a question of adequate police cover for any disturbance which may arise at that time, either in the premises or in close proximity, with possible damage to property.”
He added that there were public toilets at the far end of the car park at the rear of the church, but they were closed at night.
He said: “I have been down at the church late on a Saturday night and have disturbed people urinating against the wall of the toilets, secluded from public gaze apart from passing traffic on the bypass.
“There is the potential for such use to increase and consequently a foul odour to linger at the lower entrance to the church property.
“The adjacent chip shop is open until 2am on a Sunday morning and the nightclub will provide a further magnet for clients to linger with the possible build-up in noise, movement of people, litter and al fresco drinking in a highly residential area.”
The church car park is separated from the former restaurant by an 8ft wide lane, which is shown on the plans submitted with the application as part of the development site.
But Mr Mair pointed out that it was a public right of way.
He added that Highland Council intended to turn the neighbouring former Scottish Crafts and Whisky Centre into 16 new homes.
Mr Mair said: “The provision of a nightclub is not conducive to and may well be counter to the Highland Council policy to provide more housing in the environs of the High Street.”
Mr Smillie said he did not want to discuss his plans for the night club until he had planning permission for the project.
And Inspector Donald Campbell, based at Fort William police station, said: “We have sufficient resources available to us to deal adequately with any late licences issued by the licensing authority.”
