IPOH, Oct 9 — The Canning Garden Hillrise Coffee 16 cafe, declared illegal by the Ipoh City Council (MBI), needs to close their operations pending the result of the Planning Permission (KM) application, said State Housing and Local Government Committee chairman Sandrea Ng Shy Ching.

Ng said business operators need to obtain the KM first before proceeding to apply for any other licences to run their business, even if the area has been gazetted as a commercial zone.

"In this case, the particular cafe hasn’t got the approval for the KM. This application is still under process by MBI.

"So the cafe needs to halt their operation temporarily pending the KM result,” she said at a press conference at the Perak Darul Ridzuan Building here.

Ng also said that MBI has already previously served a letter to the cafe operator to stop their business temporarily.

Ipoh Mayor Datuk Rumaizi Baharin confirmed with Malay Mail that a notice under Section 82 of the Local Government Act 1967 has been sent to the cafe operator on August 19.

"A nuisance abatement notice is served to the owner of the cafe. If the owner complies, no further action will be taken.

"However, if the cafe owner decides to continue operating then the matter will be referred to the court for further action,” MBI said.

Despite the area where the cafe is located being gazetted a commercial zone, Ng said activities carried out by the business should not affect the community there, as the area is still mainly a residential zone.

"This cafe has apparently attracted many customers. There are complaints about traffic congestion and nuisance by the residents nearby.

"This is why a town hall session was held between the MBI, cafe owner, residents and the area’s MP and assemblyman to discuss this matter.

"So we are currently trying to find a balance between rights of the community and the need and potential for development in that area,” she explained.

On Saturday, despite the cafe being illegal, the cafe director Vincent Perera said the business will remain open.

He said there is "no reason” for him to suspend operations, as they are currently in the process of applying for the planning permission for the business.

"The allegation that the premises is still under residential status is not true as the land has been gazetted for commercial purpose in October last year,” he said.

Perera also claimed that he could only get a business licence for the cafe after actually setting one up.

"And we can only acquire the business licence from the local authorities when we have set up the business.

"Therefore, we have renovated the house into a cafe. It cost us about RM200,000. But after doing all this, we still can’t obtain the licence which we think is not fair at all,” he said.

To this, Ng questioned if there was a written statement by the MBI to prove this claim by the cafe director.

"The common sense is to apply for a licence first before setting up the business. We need to double-check from which source the cafe director received this information,” she said.

Ng also said this cafe matter should not be politicised and urged all the political parties to go back to following the existing rules and regulations and interest of the community.

This was in response to Perera claiming that the issue surrounding his cafe is being used for political mileage.