An East Ayrshire football club will be allowed to retain a cafe and toilet block six years after permission lapsed.

Darvel Juniors were given approval to use a storage container to house the cafe alongside a stand alone toilet block in 2016.

However, this permission at the Irvinebank Road ground was only due to last two years until 2018.

The club applied to East Ayrshire Council for permission to retain the unit at Recreation Park.

A planning report stated: “The container unit is situated along the west boundary of the site. It is finished externally in blue-profiled metal sheeting and features doors and windows on its east elevation.”

No objections to the application were received by the council.

The report also indicated that there had been no complaints about the facility since the previous permission had lapsed.

Officials continued: “The application site is an established recreation park and the proposal itself is an established café/bar with stand-alone toilet block that has been in situ for approximately eight years, therefore it is considered to be fully compatible with surrounding established uses.

“The proposal is not considered to have any unacceptable impacts upon the environmental quality of the area as its scale and the level of screening afforded to the proposal by the existing boundary fence of the recreation park limits its visual prominence.

“The proposal is not considered to be located within enough proximity to nearby residential dwellings so as to have any significant adverse impact upon residential amenity.”

The report also states that there is access to walking, cycling and bus routes along the A71.

It adds: “As no significant complaints have been raised regarding the operation of the café in this time, and no objections have been received in response to this planning application, it could be considered that there has been minimal adverse impacts or no unacceptable disturbance to local residents.

“No alterations or extensions are proposed to the existing/established café/bar and stand-alone toilet block, as original approved.

“Overall, whilst the proposal is of little visual/design merit, it is considered appropriate relative to its function/purposed and its size, positioning and the presence of adequate boundary screening around the site limits the visual impact upon the surrounding area.”

The club did not outline the length of time they wished to keep the units, with planners agreeing that a temporary three year position was ‘appropriate’ and would allow the club to look at other options in the future.