Home plan for elderly relatives is rejected
A grandson has lost an appeal to install a “caravan” for elderly relatives in his garden.
Permission had been sought for a singlelevel 62m ancillary building to be installed in the large garden of a Blairgowrie couple’s Woodlands Road home.
Due to the high risk nature of the applicant’s job, separate accommodation was seen as the safest option in the pandemic.
Ryan and Louise Walker have been looking after Ryan’s elderly grandparents in Alyth for several years by doing washings, shopping, cleaning, etc.
2020 was a difficult year so the grandparents jumped at the idea of moving into accommodation in Ryan’s garden and having all the care and support they need 20 metres from their doorstep.
In a letter to PKC, the couple described the planning authority’s refusal of the application as a “bitter disappointment”.
The Walkers’ application to erect a singlelevel unit comprising of an open plan kitchen/living/dining area, shower room, utility, cloakroom and two bedrooms was refused by PKC in January 2021.
PKC’s report of handling said the unit’s location, separate drainage connections and the extent of accommodation proposed was “tantamount to a new dwelling”.
The report said the structure was “in effect a caravan” due to it being transported to the site on a lorry.
The home was also refused on the grounds of loss of light to a neighbouring property and failure to connect to the public sewer.
The applicant’s agent and architect Ian MacGregor (IMAC Architecture) launched an appeal to PKC’s local review body on behalf of the Walkers.
He said the building “accommodates a mere 2.5 per cent of the total site area.” PKC’s report of handling said the total site was in excess of 2000m.
Mr Walker is a key worker and ancillary accommodation was proposed with facilities sufficient for temporary independent living in the event of needing to self-isolate.
In an email to PKC, Mr MacGregor said that “whilst the accommodation had independent living facilities, the primary intention is very much that all meals, laundry facilities, etc are provided by the applicants to his grandparents”.
Conservative Blairgowrie and Glens councillor Bob Brawn highlighted how the report said the building will take all its services from the main building.
He said: “Electric, water - and I presume gas if it’s there - will all be linked to the main house. Without them then the building ceases to be functional.”
He said in his mind this made the building ancillary to the main building and he was inclined to accept the appeal along the lines of temporary consent if a window overlooking the neighbouring property was removed.
Conservative councillor Callum Purves said he understood why the applicants would want to build it but was more sympathetic to the view it was not ancillary accommodation.
He said: “I think it could be entirely capable of functioning as an independent unit and a house on its own.”
Lib Dem convener Lewis Simpson said it was a “particularly difficult decision”.
He said it seemed to him to be “a caravan at the bottom of the garden rather than ancillary accommodation”.
He said he was inclined to agree with Cllr Purves but was interested to know if a temporary arrangement was feasible.
The council’s legal adviser Colin Elliot said it was very difficult to achieve a temporary consent that also stands up as a reasonable condition. The councillors voted to uphold refusal by two votes to one.