A Highland pensioner could still be granted permission to build a flood defence wall to protect his home on the outskirts of Inverness.
Donnie Robertson is engaged in a long-running row with Highland Council about dumping materials on his land without permission and was served an enforcement order to remove them, the deadline of which was Wednesday.
Yesterday the 84-year-old met with planning bosses, who have sent a letter asking him for more information to enable them to consider his retrospective planning application, submitted on March 2.
They also advised him on how to comply with the enforcement notice.
Following the meeting Mr Robertson said: “It was quite a constructive meeting but they have said to me they want to find out more information.
“Any legal action seems to have been set aside in the mean time.”
A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “Stuart Black, our director of Development and Infrastructure and head of Planning and Building Standards, Malcolm Macleod, held a constructive meeting with Mr Robertson where they outlined the steps he needs to take to comply with the council’s enforcement notice. They confirmed that the council will be writing to him to request further information to allow us to consider his retrospective planning application.”
Mr Robertson claims he was given informal advice from council officials that he would not need planning permission for the wall – so he started work about a year ago.
He has already put in place the subsoil for a 6ft-high, 500yd-long wall he wants to erect to prevent damage during storms.
Mr Robertson said it would cost him “tens of thousands” of pounds to comply with the enforcement order, with hourly fees for lorries and diggers and charges for dumping material.
