I refer to two letters and an advert published on Saturday, November 17 regarding the permit for a tea shop in Qui-Si-Sana overlooking the promenade and near other retail outlets.

The permit for the change of use of a shop from a souvenir retail to a tea shop is being considered under the following over-riding reasons:

Small size. The area of the shop is 20 square metres and can seat only two tables. No tables or canopies will be accepted outside the shop.

Low impact. The use of the shop as a tea shop makes the impact of the outlet on residential areas very small. Without the two tables, this shop would have been a normal "selling of goods" class 4. Restriction on cooking. This condition in the permit effectively limits the use of a Class 6 establishment to that of a class 4. In other words, the shop may sell pasti but may not manufacture them and no cooking will be done on site.

This is not a question of precedent setting. The same DCC board this week has refused an almost identical application in Tigne since it was not considered as low impact and the size was much larger.

Qui-Si-Sana and Tigne are primarily residential areas and a tea shop can be reasonably situated in such areas as they are all over the islands for the over-riding reasons mentioned above.