Don’t buy house if you want to alter it, says councillor
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PEOPLE who are thinking of moving into conservation area should not buy a property if they think they are going to want to change it, a councillor has stated.
Councillor Brian Topping spoke out at the Banff and Buchan area committee after hearing of an application to
alter a semi-detached house in a conservation area of Whitehills.
Planners recommended the refusal of the bid by the owners of 18 Reidhaven Street to create a new bay window feature with an accompanying canopy and column to bridge over the front door to create a new entrance feature.
The proposed structure would extend out from the current building line by one metre, stand 3.5 metres tall and be five metres wide.
Councillor Topping said: "People who are coming into conservation areas should know before they take the house that there are planning policies there. I think the planning officers have got in spot in this case in refusing the application."
Councillor Topping had said earlier in the meeting that he felt strongly that planning policies in conservation areas should be adhered to.
"You can modernise a house in the inside without modifying its external appearance," he said.
The planning officer Katherine Donnachie said the proposed changes would change the "character of symmetry and simple frontage" of the buildings in the conservation area.
She added: "We discussed with the applicant about them just putting in a bay window but they didn’t want to do this."
However, Councillor Michael Watt moved to approve the application, stating: "Not one of these buildings have remained the same since they were built."
In the end the councillors agreed by eight votes to two to back the
planning department’s recommendation to refuse the application.
