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Glasgow Live
Glasgow Live
National
Holly Lennon

Pizza vending machine facing removal after council denies planning permission

A pizza vending machine in the city's Merchant City faces being removed after council planners decided it should never have been installed.

The Pizza Machine on Blackfriars Road has been a popular fixture for students and social media users since it was installed last year.

The machine can hold 96 fresh pizzas in a chiller which are then cooked and delivered through a slot within three minutes.

Owners launched the project, the first of its kind in Scotland, had applied for retrospective planning permission from the council.

However, planners have now decided to refuse permission on the grounds that noise, activity and cooking fumes "would unacceptably impact on the residential amenity of neighbouring properties".

Owners have said that the pizza machine is fully electric and cannot emit any fumes 'whatsoever'.

They also said that the takeaway exceeds the 20% limit on the number of units in use as a hot food shop, pub or hot food shop in the street block frontage and that inadequate information had been provided about the specification and maintenance of the ventilation system and that the proposed method was not an externally mounted high-level flue as required by planning guidance.

The Pizza Machine was installed by Kristofer Maguire, the majority shareholder along with his brother Raymond and dad Kevin - who also own the Metropolitan Bar in the Merchant City.

The owners have said that they will be appealing the council's decision.

They told Glasgow Live: "The location of the Pizza Machine at 170 High Street in our view had already been granted class 3 consent some years back - I think 2004 , so on reflection, we may be guilty of not applying for the consent under the correct planning regulations.

"It is clear however on reflection that the use to include hot food is an acceptable use. We were therefore surprised and astounded at the refusal and in particular the reasons for refusal. We have appealed the decision and it is hoped that we will be allowed to continue with the Pizza Machine. For the record, we support the homeless in the area by supplying excess pizzas and in addition, we support the Halliday Foundation in providing food packages for the homeless.

"We also employ six people who would be affected should the worst happen."

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