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Highlands Unbridled granted licence to operate near Tain





Highlands Unbridled have been granted a three month provisional licence.
Highlands Unbridled have been granted a three month provisional licence.

Jan and Graham O’Neill are relocating from Brora after a disagreement with landowners Sutherland Estates and a long-running feud with Highland Council.

Sobbing with relief when Highland Council’s licensing committee granted the Tain licence on Tuesday, Mrs O’Neill said the last few months had been “hell”.

“We invested everything into this business,” she said. “We cashed-in Graham’s pension, we’ve given all our time, all our money, all our holidays. We were just starting to support ourselves and make a little bit of profit and then suddenly Sutherland Estates said they were selling the house and everything went pear-shaped.”

The couple set up the business at Keeper’s Cottage in Doll, Brora, in 2008 and were granted retrospective planning permission last year on condition they improve access to prevent an accident on the A9.

This condition was not adhered to, however. The couple blamed Sutherland Estates for refusing to allow them to use a field to build the new access road.

The council served enforcement, banning the firm from using the access onto the A9.

But the couple lodged an appeal with the Scottish Government claiming they were not using the access for commercial purposes and insisting they had ceased trading last October.

The appeal was upheld but they are quitting the Brora centre and moving to Tain to relaunch the business.

However, the council has been investigating suspected unlicensed activity since this date and plan to submit a report to the Procurator Fiscal for his consideration.

Mrs O’Neill said the stress has taken its toll on her husband’s health and having to cease trading last year had left them thousands of pounds out of pocket, with 30 animals to feed and care for.

Breaking down in tears, she told the committee: “If this gets deferred until August we can’t go on any longer. We have struggled as far as we can and it will break my heart but I will have to pull the plug on the business.”

She insisted her 30 horses would continue to be well fed and cared for in Tain where she had eight acres of grazing land. She has another four acres at Barbaraville and still has grazing land in Brora.

The committee was divided and several councillors said they would object to the licence being granted.

Maxine Smith, Cromarty Firth SNP councillor and former committee chairwoman, said she sympathised with the O’Neill’s but they clearly had “not behaved very well” in terms of adhering to planning regulations.

She told Mrs O’Neill: “It’s all very well you saying what you’re going to do but I need evidence. I need a description of the other grazing areas.

“Barbaraville is quite far from Tain and I do not think you have enough staff. I really have major concerns about this and I would not like to be the person that granted this and was held responsible.”

The concerns were echoed by fellow SNP councillor Glynis Smith.

The Culloden and Ardersier councillor said: “I have got 16 horses. This application has concerned me since I read it. A lot of those horses are pushing on in age a bit and all this getting thrown into horse boxes to get them to different areas of grazing and riding establishment is not putting the wellbeing and welfare of the horses first and foremost."

Mrs O’Neill pointed out that a Ross-shire veterinary surgeon’s report to the committee stated the animals were in good condition and well cared for.

And she insisted that the horses would not be getting moved about “backwards and forwards” between Tain, Brora and Barbaraville.

She said the older animals would be staying in one area and the others would graze for long periods in one spot.

Willie Mackay, Independent councillor for Landward Caithness, said the applicants deserved a chance to prove that they could run a successful business in Tain from their current home in Brora.

Members voted five to four in favour of Councillor Mackay’s amendment and the O’Neill’s were granted a three-month provisional licence with a view to it continuing as long as they adhere to conditions.

Speaking after the hearing, Mrs O’Neill said she was “very relieved”.

“It’s been eight months of hell,” she said. “There is a lot of demand for what we do. Bookings are coming in thick and fast. I was too scared to take any more bookings because I did not want to let people down but now I can go and email them and say actually we can take your booking. That will be a really big relief.”


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