Cabin planning row goes on

A Sanquhar man faces an anxious wait to find out if his countryside cabin can stay — with the entire planning battle coming down to a dispute over an area roughly the size of a floor tile. The unusual situation arose at a meeting of Dumfries and Galloway Council’s local review body on Tuesday. Councillors were considering Tony Campbell’s appeal against the refusal of retrospective planning permission for a timber cabin near Clenries Farm, just over two miles north-east of Sanquhar. Under Scotland’s national planning regulations, a hut must have an internal floor area of no more than 30 square metres. Council planning officer Joshua Scott measured the cabin at 30.9m2 — just one square metre above the limit. Mr Campbell’s agent argued that bedroom wall insulation should be deducted from the measurements, which would bring the floor area down to 29.9m2 and within the definition of a hut. With both sides presenting conflicting figures, Annandale South Councillor Sean Marshall asked whether any independent source had taken measurements. He said: “Has there been any independent verification of that? We’ve got the two parties — we’ve got the planner saying that it’s this size and we’ve got the applicant’s agent saying that it’s below 30 square metres, so I just wondered if anyone had actually checked.” Robert Duncan, a senior council planning officer, confirmed that no independent check had been carried out, explaining that if the internal floor area exceeds 30 square metres, the structure simply does not meet the definition of a hut under the rules. Lochar Councillor Ivor Hislop also raised doubts about the reliability of the figures, pointing out that the plans themselves state they are not to be scaled up. The council’s solicitor advised that as the measurement was the determining point of the entire case, it was open to the local review body to commission an independent surveyor to physically measure the cabin’s floor space. Planning advisor, Mr Duncan agreed, telling members it was “probably your safest option.” Councillors voted to adjourn and seek that independent report before making any final determination.