A LOCAL smallholder was given planning permission this week for a potato store and chicken coop – despite planners’ fears the structure was more suitable for a domestic garden.
At their meeting on Tuesday morning the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee considered an application (retrospective) by Mr Alan and Mrs Paula Donald. Planners had recommended refusal, citing fears for the impact on the Kirtown of Fetteresso conservation area – and that the building’s design was inappropriate for the stated purpose.
During the meeting Councillors heard the Donald family have a heritage of potato growing stretching back decades. They now also keep sheep, hens and ducks.
And they learned the Donald’s previous store was no longer protecting its contents from frost and had become prone to flooding by the Carron River – hence the need for a replacement in a new location to facilitate the running of their 20 acre smallholding.
Mr Donald, who is a joiner, built the new store and coop himself using sarking boards and upcycled windows that would otherwise have gone to landfill. And the committee heard the single-pitched roof was designed to capture rainwater to be used for the livestock.
The full rigour of the planning process was applied to this application. Statutory consultees were approached – Built Heritage; Natural Environment; Roads Department; the North East of Scotland Biological Records Centre, NESBREC; and Flood Risk and Coastal Protection. Each considered the application and made a response – all either replied with no comment or no objection (NESBRC gave a mapped list of local wildlife).
Meanwhile, the application was included in a public notice in the Mearns Leader. And apparently a planning officer would have made a site visit to ensure a notice was appropriately displayed there. No objections were received.
Lengthy discussion
It took an hour for the Area Committee to consider the application – the usual presentation of the application and all matters pertaining to it was delivered by a planning officer, who then answered any questions. Then Mr MacGillivray, a representative of the applicants, was given five minutes to speak – detailing the history of the smallholding, the manner of construction of the store and its importance to the smallholding – much of what he said being echoed by Cllr Wendy Agnew who lived nearby for many years and has a good understanding of farming.
The number of windows had been raised in the discussions along with the colour of the door. Mr MacGillivray said his clients would be delighted to act on any feedback and make changes as required.
”The applicants would do anything to get permission,” he said.
”It’s just a shed.”
And following their own input and debate all but one of the Councillors agreed – full planning permission was granted, with no requirement to make any changes.