Woody's Stonebaked Pizza Co.

We recently applied for hot food consent at 19 Park Glade in Erskine, formerly the bakers. The unit has been lying empty for over a year. Unfortunately our initial application for hot food consent at Renfrewshire Council Planning Department was recently refused. This was after being initially told our application was being put forward for approval. Subsequently, there was an appeal heard on the 10th November 2015. At the appeal, there were two local Councillors who know the site and three Councillors from Paisley, who don't know the site. The decision went to a vote with the two local Councillors voting in favour of the hot food consent and two Paisley Councillors voting against the proposals. This was left to a casting vote by another Paisley Councillor who has never been to the site, who voted against it. Is this proper practice? We wouldn’t have thought so. We certainly think it would be prudent to take on board, local Councillors opinions, who know the area.

We have an existing unit in Paisley which has been trading well due to its unique and authentic pizza making, which is vastly different from big chain pizza companies. Our dough is made fresh, hand made and cooked directly on the hot stone ovens. This is real, niche pizza. Our website is www.woodyspizzas.com and our Facebook is woodyspizzas. Our reviews, in our opinion, show how Paisley has welcomed our type of authentic pizza and also our customer service. 

While we appreciate Woody’s Stonebaked Pizza Co shops will require hot food consent, we believe our model is not what the hot food policy was aimed at. We are fundamentally different from many of the other takeaways on the high street, and pride ourselves on the policies and procedures that we have in place, to ensure that this remains the case. We don’t use deep fat fryers and only have electric stone ovens, the type that would have been used in the previous occupants there, a bakers shop.

The proposed unit has been empty for a long time and has attracted vandalism, which has had to be rectified, at the cost of the owner.

The types of issues that frequently arise in planning applications include concerns over increased litter, anti-social behaviour, traffic disruption and unpleasant cooking smells. Woody’s Stonebaked Pizza Co aims to address precisely these issues before they ever become a problem. The Woody’s business model means that around 70% of our orders are for delivery to our customers' homes, through website and phone orders, which reduces the likelihood of customers hanging around shops and also reduces the risk of litter being dropped, on the nearby streets.

Woody’s currently only sells full-size pizzas. As a result, the size and the fact that our pizzas are extremely hot, reduces the likelihood of customers eating pizza whilst they walk out the shop, which further reduces the possibility of litter being discarded irresponsibly.

During the planning of a new shop, we work with the relevant authorities to ensure there is adequate parking and access for our delivery vehicles in order to minimise the impact on local traffic. Equally, all of our staff members are briefed to act in a responsible manner in terms of reducing the noise from drivers and vehicles.

As Woody’s only use fresh ingredients to create our pizzas and other products on site, this means that the aroma coming from one of our shops is very similar to that of a local baker, than a traditional fast-food outlet. Even so, we use a very comprehensive ventilation and extraction system, to minimise the escape of any cooking smells.

As a result of these measures, we avoid any adverse environmental or traffic impact for neighbouring properties.

Woody's Stonebaked Pizza Co expansion strategy, as a brand, will continue. We have secured a shop in Barrhead and subject to certain procedures, should be open early next year. We will continue to look at other potential units, in other areas. Having said that, we feel this would have been a welcome addition to Erskine, given the amount of Erskine customers who travel regularly to Paisley, for one of our stonebaked pizzas. We would also be delivering to Bishopton, Inchinnan and Dargavel.

We believe the decision to refuse this application is wrong on so many fronts.

1) The unit has lay empty for over a year.

2) We are predominately 70% an online business combined with phone delivery and only 30% takeaway. For this reason, we do not have to be in a town centre.

3) We will be employing eight staff including pizza chefs, counter staff and delivery drivers.

4) We will be closing at 11pm to minimise any perceived problems. Our busy period is between 6pm and 9pm, with minimum orders after 9pm. This runs very smoothly in Paisley, where there are residential houses, above us, across the road from us and to the side of us. We have had no issues.

5) The Councillors who supported the proposals are local and know the unit and area, as opposed to the Councillors who objected, who are from Paisley and have never visited the unit.

6) There are no odours that emanate from an electric pizza oven. This was confirmed in an email from the oven manufacturer to planning. However, we install a comprehensive extraction and ventilation system, to absolutely eliminate any possibility. Any extraction system would point away from housing.

We really appreciate you taking time to read this as we all have busy lives.

We would be extremely grateful, if you could sign our petition, notifying us of your support.

Thank You.