Objectors furious over licence U-turn

May 21 2009 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

HAMILTON Licensing Board this week performed a u-turn on controversial plans for a new pub licence.

They approved the application for Bothwell’s Silverwells House despite turning down a similar application only 15 months earlier.

The latest application for a provisional premises licence for the Old Mill Road property attracted 25 objections and a petition against the scheme with more than 90 names.

At the board’s meeting on Monday, licensing justices were split 4-4 when they came to decide whether the application should be approved.

Councillors Jean McKeown, Hugh Dunsmuir, Jackie Burns and Andy Carmichael, all Labour, voted in favour of the application and councillors Bert Thomson, Independent, Jim McGuigan and Graeme Horne, both SNP, and Tory John Murray gave it the thumbs down.

Board chairman Jean McKeown used her casting vote to grant the licence.

Earlier, justices had been told that the man behind the application, developer William Peterkin, had a conviction for possession of an offensive weapon, namely a wood baton.

At Glasgow Sheriff Court, he had been convicted on January 15, 2007, under the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 S47(1) and fined £150.

Mr Peterkin, who has 20 years’ experience in the licensing trade and has entertainment premises in Glasgow, wants to turn the Silverwells into a five-bedroom hotel with a restaurant and wine bar on the ground floor.

It’s believed the cost of converting the building, currently lying empty, could be up to £1.2m.

When the application came before the licensing board in February last year, justices voted 5-4 to refuse the application.

Objectors feared that the Silverwells might be turned into a ‘superpub’.

They were of the view that approval of the application would amount to ‘over provision’ of licensed premises in Bothwell and may lead to problems of anti-social behaviour and noise.

Following the meeting in February 2008, an angry Mr Peterkin said he was seeking an alternative use for the building and might consider using it as a hostel for the homeless and asylum seekers.

That never happened and Mr Peterkin and his lawyer returned to the licensing board on Monday in the hope of securing approval for the application.

Following the meeting on Monday, an angry objector told the Advertiser: “It was lost on over-provision last year but this year the Labour councillors, who voted this application through, don’t seem to think that over-provision applies.

“Bothwell already has 15 licensed premises and restaurants with a capacity for 1300.”

She added: “We were also of the view that Mr Peterkin is not a fit and proper person to run a business such as this because he has a conviction for possession of an offensive weapon.”