The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Planning chiefs rule couple must lose home
PLEA: Hundreds support battle by Peter and Agnes Brown to stay in bungalow
A couple are making a last-ditch plea to save their home after planning chiefs ordered it must be turned into a shed.
More than 300 people have signed a petition calling on Perth and Kinross Council to show mercy on Peter and Agnes Brown.
The couple have been battling for three years to keep the three-bedroom bungalow near Blairgowrie, which was built by a previous owner who only had permission for a feed store.
Mr Brown, 53, said he was expecting sheriff’s officers at the door any minute.
“We’ve even set up a caravan at the side of the house so that if I’m out when they come my wife can go and sit in there and not have to watch them,” he said.
Perth and Kinross Council said its offers of alternative accommodation had been refused.
A spokeswoman said: “It is illegal not to comply with an enforcement notice that has been unsuccessfully appealed.”
A couple have been ordered out of their Perthshire home after planning chiefs insisted it must be turned into a shed.
Peter and Agnes Brown face eviction from their three-bedroom property near Blairgowrie because it does not have planning consent.
The house in rural Kinloch was built by the previous owner with only permission for a winter feed store.
The Browns bought it from a cousin in early 2017 and were told changing consent would be just a “formality”.
After three years of exhaustive planning battles, businessman Mr Brown said he is preparing for sheriff’s officers to appear.
The 53-year-old is making a last-ditch plea to Perth and Kinross Council to let them keep their property.
“I don’t know how it is going to happen. I expect a team of people will turn up out of the blue and start stripping the place,” he said.
“We’ve even set up a caravan at the side of the house so that if I’m out when they come my wife can go and sit in there and not have to watch them.
“We’ve been told we have to get everything out: fixtures and fittings, televisions, beds, coffee tables, sofas.
They just want the place emptied.
“At the moment we don’t know when this is going to happen. They have offered us a small house in Bankfoot, which I’ve already told them is just not suitable for us or my business.
“We were given until Monday to decide but we’ve been told that after that there is nothing else, we will just have to become homeless.”
Mr Brown, a member of the local Travelling community, said the landscaping business he runs from the house will also suffer.
Planners said there was “no economic need for a house” on the site and the property was “not of a traditional character”.
A series of planning appeals also failed. “They’ve made out that our neighbours aren’t happy with the house being here,” said Mr Brown.
“But nearly everyone I speak to around here doesn’t have a problem with it. One of our neighbours said he was going to block the road to stop them getting to our house.”
Mr Brown now has launched an online petition, urging the council to review its decision. It has received nearly 300 signatures.
“I just don’t know what to do now,” he said. “I think I’ve tried everything to get them to change their mind. I just want them to show some compassion to the situation we’ve found ourselves in.”
In its enforcement notice, the local authority says: “It is recognised that (the Brown family) may have unwittingly taken ownership of the site, without possessing the full knowledge of the planning history and constraints... however, the council have a duty to regularise breaches of planning control.”
A spokeswoman added: “Numerous offers of support have been made to protect and ensure their wellbeing is looked after during this process.
“Offers of accommodation that fully meet the household’s requirements have been made. However, these have been refused.
“We have also attempted to help find suitable business accommodation, but have received no response.”