Angus councillors turn down XL Bully sanctuary citing 'grave' concerns over plans

The controversial bid to host up to 31 bulldog-breed dogs at the Happas Canine Centre near Forfar first emerged last year.

Kerryanne Shaw, the campaigner behind the scheme, moved to Angus from Glasgow after raising more than £20,000 for the project.

Ms Shaw is the chairperson of charity All Bullie Charity Rescue.

However, councillors unanimously refused their application for a licence at a meetin of the council’s civil licencing committee.

This comes after two inspections have been carried out at the sanctuary, both of which heavily criticised the management and condition of the facility.

Angus Council’s animal welfare inspector Coreen Hill warned she did not believe Ms Shaw could safely manage up to 25 dogs at Happas.

But Jacob Cohen, Ms Shaw’s legal representative, said his client had made “significant progress” towards fulfilling the requirements for a licence.

Councillors were also asked to take Ms Shaw’s ADHD into account, which was said to be a contributing factor in her difficulty in satisfying the conditions of the licence.

It was also revealed that two volunteers have begun induction training to help support the animals under the facility’s care.

However despite these pleas councillors said they had “grave” concerns over the rate of improvements made at the centre.

“The necessary improvements simply have not happened,” said Monifieth representative Lloyd Melville

“After seven months of owning the site, one inspection, another 70 days and another inspection – if after all of that the conditions have not been met then I personally do not judge that they are likely to be met.”

Committee chairman George Meechan added: “I have grave concerns about the application.

“There have been improvements in areas that were raised, but possibly others have now come up

“So overall picture does not look particularly good.”