A Scottish couple have been forced to move their summer house by just one metre to settle a planning row.
Martin Keyes and Catherine Curran, from Greenock, were informed by Labour-run Inverclyde Council that their £20,000 summer house would be ripped down after retrospective planning consent was refused.
The council’s decision came despite no objections being raised when the couple submitted their application last year.
Three years after being built, council officials refused to grant retrospective planning permission citing that the two-metre tall building would cause a “detrimental impact” because of its “size and proximity” to the property next door.
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PICTURED: The couple’s ‘Victory Bar’, as seen before it had to be moved a single metre
After moving it by one metre to appease planning officers, the couple renamed the building the “Victory Bar”.
Curran said: “It has been very stressful and we are glad it is over… We won and we have our summer house.”
Her partner said that despite the building being less private since it was moved, the couple “were never going to be forced to tear it down”.
The couple added that they first learned about the council’s decision to refuse planning permission from their local community newspaper, leaving them “absolutely raging”.
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Curran slammed the council for the decision and the manner in which the couple found out about the refusal.
She said “people all over Inverclyde and Glasgow knew that the appeal had been rejected before us”.
“I think it has been very badly handled by the council”, she added.
In response to the refusal, the couple launched an appeal to their authority’s local review body, with members then visiting the property in person.
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‘People all over Inverclyde (pictured) and Glasgow knew that the appeal had been rejected before us,’ the pair said
Following a site visit, the body unanimously decided to reject the appeal.
Upon hearing about the council’s decision to turn down their appeal, the pair submitted a petition from their friends and neighbours in support of the building.
The couple had no choice but restructure their garden and move the property by the minimal margin to appease the council planners.
With the dispute now settled, Curran expressed her gratitude to the couple’s friends and neighbours that stood by them in their fight to keep their building.
She said: “We would like to thank our neighbours and friends for their support. We can move on now and enjoy our summer house stays.”
Speaking on the decision to rename the building, Keyes said: “We decided to call it Victory Bar, because it is still standing. I can’t wait to enjoy more nights in our summer house now it is finally safe.”
A spokesman for Inverclyde Council said: “In the event of a retrospective planning application and any subsequent appeal both being refused due to breaches of the planning guidelines, we will endeavour to work with the applicant to explore options available to them and whether there are ways to meet relevant planning guidelines.”
