£½m ghost house
...but mansion is not worth a penny after access row
SET in lush private grounds with six bedrooms and a sun terrace overlooking a verdant valley, it looks like a dream family home. In fact, this sumptuous luxury property is worth not a penny.
A bizarre planning anomaly means nobody has lived in the mansion since it was built in 2010 – and it’s unlikely anyone ever will.
The only access to the property in Tillicoultry, Clackmannanshire, is via a potholed private road that the local council insists must be brought up to standard before the house is occupied – but the neighbours to whom the lane belongs have refused to let work commence.
Owners Willie and Gillian Irvine have abandoned the site after claiming to have won a six-figure out-of-court settlement from the legal firm that gave them advice during the saga over the so-called ‘ransom strip’.
So nature is reclaiming 11 Elistoun Drive as bushes, trees and hedges close in on the majestic three-level house.
Former Hibernian footballer Mr Irvine, 54, said: ‘There’s nothing can be done with the place, which is a shame.
‘It’s still our land it’s built on and the house is secure but we don’t think about it any more now that we have been compensated for our losses. I have not been there for years.
‘It’s ready to move into apart from some snagging. It was nearly complete when we discovered there was a problem with the access.
‘We had been advised that we had full way leave on the private road but it turned out that wasn’t true.’
Mr Irvine added: ‘The whole thing was a farce. We had a young family and a lot of thought went into designing and building the house, but my biggest regret was that it took six years of legal action to get our money back.’
Elistoun Drive is a cul-de-sac in the shadow of the Ochil Hills. The Irvines had previously owned number 10 and in 2006 obtained planning permission to build number 11 at the rear of their property, at the far end of the street.
Their new house – potentially worth an estimated £500,000 – would be spread over three levels to mould into the sloping site.
Four of the six bedrooms are en suite and the master bedroom also has a walk-in dressing room.
The property boasts a kitchen, an open-plan kitchen/diner, a living room, dining room, utility room and games room that opens out on to a huge balcony.
However, the final 50 yards of Elistoun Drive are a private road and Clackmannanshire Council insisted the Irvines must bring the rutted stretch up to municipal standards within five years or the planning permission would lapse.
In the meantime the couple sold number 10 and rented a property while the new house was being built, believing they had guaranteed way leave to fix the surface.
But in 2009 they discovered the road had been sold by a building company to several of the neighbours, who refused to allow the carriageway to be mended.
The Irvines failed in an appeal to the council to drop the stipulations so sued for compensation from their legal firm instead, settling out of court in 2016, they claim.
They have now relocated to Tullibardine in Perthshire.
A spokesman for Clackmannanshire Council said it was unable to comment on the saga.
‘The whole thing was a farce’