Ettrick inn may forced to remove its new windows
The final decision will rest with the local review body (LRB) of Scottish Borders Council.
In August, SBC’s local planning officer Dorothy Amyes, using delegated powers, rejected a retrospective planning application for the upvc double glazed units from Donna Cornish, who purchased the former hostelry in December last year.
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Hide AdMs Cornish said that because the building was not listed and the existing windows were “rotting and falling out”, she was unaware she required planning consent and offered her apologies.
She explained their replacement was part of a detailed plan of works to bring the building, which has not traded as a hotel for three years, up to date.
And she claimed the new windows had made a “huge difference to the warmth within the property”.
However, Mrs Amyes, acknowledging two neighbour objections, determined that the property’s traditional timber sash and case windows should have been replaced “like for like”.
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Hide AdShe said that the new units did not complement “the architecture of this historically important building”.
At Monday’s meeting of the Scottish Borders Council’s’s planning committee it was reported that Ms Cornish had lodged an appeal against that decision which, if enforced, would require the offending windows to be removed and replaced.
The appeal is due to be considered at the next meeting of the nine-councillor LRB in December.
Since the planning application was refused, the inn, which is located 12 miles from Selkirk and with a guide price of between £115,000 and £140,000, has been sold at auction as a commercial property for an undisclosed sum.