Plans to replace summerhouse near Peebles with new home given thumbs-up

Plans for a new house near Peebles have been given the thumbs-up despite sparking two objections.
A site north west of North Lodge at Cringletie, near Peebles, being eyed up to host a new house.A site north west of North Lodge at Cringletie, near Peebles, being eyed up to host a new house.
A site north west of North Lodge at Cringletie, near Peebles, being eyed up to host a new house.

An application by Daniel Byrne, of Edinburgh, to replace an existing summerhouse and outbuildings north west of North Lodge at Cringletie with a modern home has been approved by Scottish Borders Council planning Ranald Dods under delegated powers.

That approval was granted despite misgivings being voiced by a neighbour of the site and another objector, both insisting that the application should be treated as a new-build development rather than a replacement and also expressing concerns about access onto the A703 Peebles-Edinburgh road.

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In his objection, neighbour Kenneth Watson says: “The application claims to be a replacement dwelling house. This is not true. It was and is a summerhouse with no electricity, running water or any way of dealing with waste water and sewage.

How the new house proposed at Cringletie will look.How the new house proposed at Cringletie will look.
How the new house proposed at Cringletie will look.

“No one has ever lived here for autumn or winter.

“Trying to slip this house through under the guise of a so-called replacement and therefore avoid new-build conditions is disingenuous and just plainly wrong.”

Fellow objector Jacob van Houdt, of March Street Lane in Peebles, adds: “It is presented as a replacement house, which is obviously a misrepresentation of the facts.

“It has never been used as a house for proper occupation.”

Overruling those objections and granting conditional approval for a single-storey house with three attic bedrooms, Mr Dods says in his report on the application: “It has been accepted previously that the building was a dwelling and that it could be redeveloped with a new dwelling erected on site.

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“The proposed house would not affect the existing trees and would nestle into the landscape with some minor regrading of levels across the site.

“The scale of the new house is larger than the existing building but not so significantly that a recommendation of refusal would be warranted.

“The proposed design is clearly modern but relatively simple and would not be out of place in this rural setting.”

A design statement submitted by Glasgow’s Cameron Webster Architects, acting as agent for Mr Byrne, says: “The aim of the applicant is to create a compact, sustainable house that has a low visual impact on the landscape of the Cringletie area.

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“The house will not be visible from the public road or paths and, where it can be seen, will complement the traditional forms of housing in the area. It will not compete with them or appear as radically contrasting.

“The design of the house reworks ideas and features that are typical of the area in a modern and fresh way.

“However, it is also the applicant’s intention to introduce an excellent contemporary design that is not just a pastiche of the vernacular forms of architecture but will be an ongoing asset to the region.

“It will complement the environmental improvements our client has already made and mean that the future of these is secured.

“The ongoing programme of improvements that can be made when the applicant is living at the site will continue to bring benefits to the environment and to the public.”