Nairn restaurant could be turned into flats
An Indian restaurant could be turned into flats under plans submitted by the owners.
Planning permission is being sought to turn a long-standing Indian restaurant in Nairn's Harbour Street into a number of new residential flats.
Mr Mosh Ali, owner of the Al Raj Indian restaurant and takeaway, has submitted a planning application for a change of use for the well-known premises, citing a wish to create three new flats in its place.
The family-owned restaurant has operated for more than a quarter of a century as part of Nairn’s culinary offering.
According to the design statement submitted by Spink Design as part of the application, Mr Ali – who has operated the restaurant throughout – is retiring and the family is now seeking to redevelop the site in line with this plan.
They also talk of a need to “reflect on the high Indian restaurant capacity of Nairn” .
Including the Al Raj, they say, Nairn boasts three Indian restaurants, each of which offers take away options.
The statement reads: “The proposed re-development will see some general improvement to the visual amenity of the buildings, including maintenance, replacement windows, and removal of the restaurant signage.
“In addition, the traffic loading will fall to around four per cent of the current peak traffic movements in and around the sensitive Fishertown conservation area.”
And it adds: “No external development is proposed, beyond the removal of restaurant fittings such as signage and ventilation systems, which will generally improve the visual amenity of the site.
“The new development significantly improves the neighbour impact, reducing traffic in the area, as well as reducing unsocial hours activity, odour, and waste collections.”
