A Cults dad’s £5,000 planning fight to keep his garden shed bar is finally over – and it’s still standing.
Neighbours at Birchwood in South Avenue convinced Aberdeen councillors to order the wooden hut be torn down.
Objectors claimed the “permanently installed, gaudy, flashing, neon lights would be the envy of the promenade at Blackpool.”
One moaned that it was “more akin to a fairground duck shooting gallery”.
Cults family sheds calls to tear down garden bar
Stuart Spearritt, who lives in the upper flat of Birchwood in Cults with his young family, took his planning appeal to the Scottish Government.
The process has cost the family “more than £5,000”.
His agents McWilliam Lippe Architects claimed the councillors on the city planning committee were “clearly confused” by protests at the “small, domestic, timber shed” being used as a garden bar.
Of 13 voting Aberdeen councillors, 10 agreed the 20ft distance between the shed and downstair neighbouring windows was “not sufficient”, even though it was built in the Spearritt family’s fenced-off area of private garden on Birchwood’s grounds.
They also ruled the shed had an adverse effect on the character of the redeveloped Victorian villa.
Both points went against the advice of council planner Roy Brown, whose professional recommendation had been for the shed to be approved.
Scottish Government: Council had ‘no justification’ to order demolition
And Steve Field, a reporter with the Scottish Government’s planning and environmental appeals division, backed the city official’s take and overruled councillors.
However, he did not agree with the Spearritts’ claims that Aberdeen City Council had acted “unreasonably” – and rejected calls for the local authority to stump up the £5,000 legal fees.
Announcing his decision, Mr Field said: “I do not consider that the shed has a detrimental impact on the character or environmental quality of this property.”
The council also ruled that the shed was contrary to national planning policy, requiring new additions to improve the quality of their surroundings.
“I consider that there is a limit to which a garden shed can contribute meaningfully (in that regard),” Mr Field added.
“There are no material considerations which would still justify refusing to grant planning permission.”
Noise and lighting complaints irrelevant
Mr Field said he had not considered the crux of many neighbour complaints: that the Spearritts had applied for planning permission after the shed was built or that the family had already made a number of planning applications.
And he discounted complaints about a garden trellis and the “gaudy” lighting as they are not relevant to planning permission.
That echoes the caution from council planning officer Roy Brown, before his advice on the Cults shed was disregarded.
He said noise and the lights would be matters for environmental health or the police to deal with.
And he explained the shed use as a bar was immaterial, as it “does not itself enable or result in a materially different intensity of use or activity”.
But Mr Brown did not come out of the affair entirely without criticism, with government man Mr Field revealing he didn’t think some of his considerations of the shed’s impact on climate crises were “realistic”.
Councillors should be ‘held accountable’ for costly Cults shed planning row
Despite having to pay north of £5,000 to save his garden shed and bar, Mr Spearritt said his family was “very happy” to have the fight resolved.
“We can actually use our own garden when the weather permits in a manner that suits our lifestyle – while being respectful to our neighbours,” he told The P&J.
“We are however very disappointed with the competence of the planning committee which went against the professional planning officer’s recommendation, believed unsubstantiated witness statements and did not make a decision based upon required criteria.
“The councillors’ vote has led to the council and the Scottish government incurring large costs to deal with this appeal, when budgets are stretched throughout the city.”
Mr Spearritt said the 10 councillors who caused the furore should be “held to account as they would in any business”.
Aberdeen City Council can’t say how much Cults shed planning fight cost taxpayer
On its day at the Town House, only three councillors went with Mr Brown’s recommendation to grant planning permission for the shed.
“It’s a shed,” Councillor Neil Copland repeated as his 10 colleagues voted for it to be moved or torn down.
Now an official spokesman has said it will never be possible to know how much fighting the Cults family over their shed’s planning permission had cost the cash-strapped local authority.
He told The P&J: “The council defended its original decision and ultimately the ruling was made by the Scottish Government reporter, whose decision we note and abide by.
“Expenses were not awarded, and the only related costs would be for officer time for which we would not maintain a record.”
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