Second attempt to knock down house fails

Council planners have blocked a man’s second attempt to get consent to knock down a 110-year-old house in Kinross.

Sandy Thomson chose to withdraw his first application for conservation area consent to demolish 27 Curate Wynd after Historic Environment Scotland (HES) said he had not demonstrated the building was beyond repair.

Mr Thomson reapplied for the same consent earlier this year and this time provided PKC an engineer’s report claiming much of the two-storey property has“structural/serviceability issues which make the building not habitable as a domestic dwelling”.

The report, written by Kenneth McCulloch of McGregor McMahon Consulting Engineers, concluded:“It would be our professional opinion ... that the building should be demolished to prevent further deterioration and remove the risk of an uncontrolled collapse.”

However, a council officer has now recommended Mr Thomson’s latest application be refused saying in a report of handling published online that justification for demolition “requires to go beyond simply stating the deficiencies which are apparent in the building”.

The unnamed officer went on:“It is not considered to be reasonable to seek any further information from the applicant at this stage given the advice which has been provided during assessment of the previous application, pre application correspondence and correspondence on this application.

“The applicant has been provided with an appropriate level of advice to inform the level of supporting information required for an application of this nature and the information provided fails to justify the demolition of the house as required by policy and HES guidance.

“As such the proposal is considered to be contrary to policy HE3A of the Perth and Kinross local development plan 2014 and contrary to the policy and guidance provided by HES in relation to demolition within conservation areas.”