Councillors have rejected plans by a dog training business to establish kennels in West Lothian.
Paul Mackay who runs the WesLo dog agility centre has been refused planning permission to build a house and kennels on the site at Kirknewton.
Mr Mackay told the council’s Development Management Committee that almost 5,000 homes had been built in the area in the last decade, bringing perhaps 1,000 dogs, while the number of boarding kennels has shrunk.
He had applied for planning permission in principle to build a house and kennels at Camps Junction North, alongside the railway line which runs through Kirknewton. Mr Mackay already runs a dog training business on the site.
Planning officers had branded the proposals as housing development in the open countryside and argued that the applicant had not demonstrated that a kennels business could be viable.
A suggestion that Mr Mackay could run the business from caravan was rejected by him as “unprofessional” suggesting the business would toil because people would struggle to pay £150 to £200 a week in boarding fees to a business operating out of a caravan.
He told the committee: “There’s now 5,000 houses in the Calderwood area probably a thousand dogs and there’s fewer boarding kennels; people are having to book 18 months in advance.”
He said that the planned kennels could hold at most 50 dogs, anticipating that families with more than one dog would book space. Currently many of his customers at the training business have more than one dog.
Mr Mackay said there was also a shortage of suitable quarantine facilities for dogs coming into the UK.
Chair of the committee Councillor Harry Cartmill said he would propose that permission in principle should be given.
He told the meeting: “I’m of a mind to grant. I am aware of demand for kennels in West Lothian. Especially during the holidays. The huge housing developments mean the demand is only going to increase.
“I think you have demonstrated that there is a huge demand for kennels and you have established a very successful dog training business.”
Councillor Pauline Clark supported this saying that the planners had put Mr Mackay in a Catch 22 position by rejecting the plan.
However, councillor Willie Boyle argued: “It’s still a new house in the countryside. I wish the applicant every success in the right location. If the business fails then the house is on its own, you can’t have the business without the house.”
In a vote Councillor Cartmill’s motion to grant planning permission was defeated by three votes to two.
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
