Printed minutes
Argyll and Bute Council · 17 September 2026
Back to Planning, Protective Services and Licensing Committee (Short-term Let Hearings) — 17 September 2026 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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MINUTES of MEETING of PLANNING, PROTECTIVE SERVICES AND LICENSING COMMITTEE (SHORT-TERM LET HEARINGS) held BY MICROSOFT TEAMS on THURSDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2026 Present: Councillor Gordon Blair (Chair) Councillor Kieron Green Councillor Fiona Howard Councillor Willie Hume Councillor Andrew Kain Councillor Reeni Kennedy-Boyle Attending: Stuart McLean, Committee Manager Roderick McLean, Licensing Standards Officer David Walker, Solicitor Haysam Kahale, Applicant 1. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jan Brown, Daniel Hampsey, Graham Hardie, Liz McCabe, Luna Martin and Peter Wallace. 2. DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST There were no declarations of interest. 3. CIVIC GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 1982, THE CIVIC GOVERNMENT (SCOTLAND) ACT 1982 (LICENSING OF SHORT-TERM LETS) ORDER 2022: APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF A SHORT-TERM LET LICENCE TO H & G KAHALE, FLAT 2/1, 70 ARDBEG ROAD, ROTHESAY, ISLE OF BUTE The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting. In line with recent legislation for Civic Government Hearings, the parties (and any representatives) were given the options for participating in the meeting today. The options available were by video call, by audio call or by written submission. For this hearing the Applicant opted to proceed by way of video call and Haysam Kahale joined the meeting by MS Teams. Philip Waslin, Objector, opted to proceed by way of written submission and a copy of this was contained within the Agenda pack for today’s meeting. The Chair invited the Licensing Standards Officer to speak to the terms of the report. Thereafter the procedure set out in Appendix 5 of the report was followed and the Chair invited the Applicant to speak in support for their application. APPLICANT Mr Kahale advised that this was an application for a short-term let licence for a property owned by himself and his wife. He said that they had bought and lived in the property since November 2025. He confirmed that this was their primary property. He advised that they had 2 sons, living in France, and, during the summer they liked to travel to visit their sons for 2 or 3 months. He said that instead of leaving their property empty during this time they would like to let it out as a short-term let.
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He advised that before making the application they had contacted the other tenants in the building and received verbal approval that they would not have any issues with this proposal. He advised that they applied for all the necessary certificates in respect of gas and electricity and they also made some changes to the apartment. He advised that as it only had one bedroom they would be letting it out to a maximum of 2 adults. He said there would be no sofa beds for children and no pets permitted. He confirmed that they would make sure all the rules were abided by the tenant and would provide rules regarding operation of the let while staying in the apartment and rules in respect of other tenants in the building. He referred to recommendations made by Mr Roderick McLean during the inspection process in respect of laying carpets in the bedroom and entrance way and he confirmed that this had been done. He said he was surprised by the objection. He confirmed that he would carry out all the adjustments necessary as recommended by Mr McLean. MEMBERS’ QUESTIONS Councillor Kennedy-Boyle sought and received confirmation from Mr Kahale that while he and his wife were out of the country there was a local person living on Bute who would be the main contact. Mr Kahale advised that he would provide this person’s name and telephone number and that he would represent him while he was away and deal with any issues that arose, for example, noise complaints and water leakages etc. Councillor Kennedy-Boyle also sought and received confirmation from Mr Kahale that he would be happy to accept all the additional conditions recommended to be attached to the licence. Mr Kahale confirmed that he had already replaced carpets to try and reduce noise. He commented that this building was very old and that he did not want to disturb his neighbours or have his guests disturb his neighbours. He advised that his neighbours were very important to him. Councillor Howard referred to pictures of the concrete stairs and said they looked badly eroded. She asked Mr Roderick McLean if consideration had been given to these. Mr McLean confirmed that the stairs were worn but were not dangerous. SUMMING UP Applicant Mr Kahale advised that he had nothing further to add, and he confirmed that he had received a fair hearing. DEBATE Councillor Kennedy-Boyle said that she was familiar with the building and acknowledged that this was the normal conservation type building you found across Argyll and Bute. She commented that it would have been helpful to have had the Objector present so that she could find out more about noise issue he had raised. She commented that if he was a tenant then he would have redress to his landlord and if he was not there were grants
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available and she advised that she would have drawn this to the Objector’s attention. She noted that Mr McLean’s recommendation in his report was to enable this, and she advised that she did not have a Motion to raise any objection to it so was minded to go with the recommendation. Councillor Kain commented that on this occasion this seemed to be something that should fall out of the short-term let legislation in respect of letting a property while away on holiday. He said that a review of the short-term let policy was required but that he had no objection to this application. Councillor Blair sought and received confirmation from Mr McLean that he had made recommendations to the Applicant in respect of measures that could be taken to reduce noise levels. Mr McLean confirmed to Councillor Blair that the pictures within the Agenda pack were taken on the day of the inspection and that suggestions were made to lay carpets and that since then this had been done. Councillor Blair confirmed that he was happy to support the recommendation to approve the application. DECISION The Committee agreed to approve the application and, in order to manage the concerns raised by the Objector, in addition to the mandatory conditions set by the Scottish Government, agreed to the apply additional conditions relating to anti-social behaviour, privacy and security, damage to property, littering and wase disposal, and noise control in flatted premises. It was noted that the Applicant would receive written confirmation of the decision within 7 days of the hearing. (Reference: Report by Regulatory Services and Building Standards Manager, submitted)