Production 6 _Mr K McQuarrie Response to Planning Authority Comment_23_02358_PP
Argyll and Bute Council · 3 September 2024
Back to Argyll and Bute Local Review Body — 3 September 2024 and its agenda
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1 Committee Services Officer Legal and Regulatory Support Kilmory Lochgilphead Argyll and Bute PA31 8RT 19 August 2024 Reference: 23/02358/PP Rosebank, Breadalbane Street, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, PA75 6PD. Application for planning permission for alternations and extension to dwellinghouse and formation of patio. Dear Convenor and Councillors, Thank you all for taking time to consider my request for review of the decision to refuse planning permission for Rosebank, Breadalbane Street, Tobermory, Isle of Mull, PA75 6PD. This is quite simply a planning application to extend the family house that I was brought up in and has been in our family for well over a century since my grandfather built it in 1909. All my life I have had a dream to improve the home, in which I was brought up and make it a home suitable for my family to live and work in Mull. The object of the extension is to retain the three double bedrooms and create a second bathroom and a kitchen with living and dining space. Section 1: Context What brings me to appeal and request review is a disagreement on the validity of the reasons for refusal, the assessment of the impact and nature of the proposed design and the application of NPF4 and its confluence with the LDP. My regard and love of the history and culture of Tobermory has driven me to think very carefully about the proposed extension, its suitability and the materials used. Rosebank has been in my family for three generations. My grandfather designed and constructed, Rosebank. He was the principal foreman and stone mason for the building contractor Donald Fletcher in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. With the exception of my grandfather, my people were small holders. My grand uncle Archibald MacLean ploughed with Clydesdale horses. It was a great pleasure to watch the horses being shod in the Smiddy by the blacksmith Angus Henderson which was in the little lane on the east boundary of Rosebank. My father started the Mull Historical Society and set up the Mull Museum. He published the book: The Place Names of Mull. I understand the oral culture surrounding the building materials used and the trades that ensued. For example, I am familiar with the history of the Ballachulish slate quarries. I care passionately about the integrity of my grandfather’s design and I feel that I am implementing what both he and my father had wished to do but were unable to fulfil because of circumstance. The intention was to build a home for his family and for successive generations to come. I spent much of my childhood in the house of Rosebank, my family were native Gaelic speakers
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2 as am I. I know from my father that it was my grandfather’s intention to extend Rosebank towards the East, along the whole axis of the house. It had similarly been my father’s ambition to extend the house in the same direction. As citizens I think it behoves us to understand the legislative intent of NPF4. I do not believe it is sensibly deployed in this instance for a house extension. It is a framework which should be used and applied with judgement. It should neither be a club nor a straight jacket to inhibit householders and council taxpayers from developing their property. Section 2: The Site Rosebank In the Council statement, Rosebank is described as a detached dwelling house. Today it is detached but was not always so. Up until the 1920s a cottage was attached to the house occupied by a family named Colquhoun. The post-World War One economy drove them to emigrate to Vancouver, Canada. The cottage fell into disrepair and was demolished. Outbuildings The Planning Authority have stated that the current outbuildings make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the area, but do recognise that their condition makes repair undesirable /unviable. The garage belonging to Rosebank on West Street, was built by myself, my late brother and my father in the 1960s. The low outhouse shed was built of single brick construction with a corrugated iron roof in the early 1950s. Corrugated iron was the only material that was affordable at the time. There is barely a view of this building from West Street. The outhouses are not in good repair with water ingress and the windows are either dilapidated or missing. It is screened by the garage and the mixed hedge and vegetation in spring, summer and autumn. The outhouse, which connects the shed to Rosebank was erected to provide some shelter in the 1970s. They were always intended as temporary structures as mentioned my father’s ambition was to extend the house. Under the proposal we seek to retain the existing garage, which pre-dates the connecting outbuilding, and that will remain as it. Moreover, we will retain the stone boundary wall and re- introduce The outbuildings were never intended as a permanent feature but I do not share the design and conservation officer’s view that they make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the area. Section 3: The Extension The Planning Authority refer to the house as being on a prominent corner plot. I would argue it is not because it sits below the crown of Breadalbane Street. It is not on a high elevation relative to the rest of the town. The Planning Authority argue that the site is highly visible. This is simply not the case. The extension is set to the rear of the building. It cannot be seen from the main thoroughfare of the Breadalbane Street. Breadalbane Street hold the longest axis of the original dwelling house.
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3 The scale of the extension is in keeping with the original dwelling house. The height is identical to the height of the current house and much less than the adjacent property [Highland Cottage]. The design of the extension in relation to the original house uses a wet roughcast to match the original house and identical slate. The Planning Authority has chosen to compare the extension only with the house as opposed to the total of the built form of the site i.e. the outbuildings and the garage. However, as Mr Hannah, my agent, has clearly demonstrated the plot can easily accommodate the extension as can the house. The extension will not be visible at all when looking at the main aspect of the house on Breadalbane Street and will not change the main views of the original house. By our siting of the proposed extension to replace the dilapidated outbuildings and the continuity of roof line and materials I believe the scale of the development is appropriate. If subservience is desirable then the fact that the proposed extension will not be visible from the main views of the house from the main artery i.e. Breadalbane Street is in fact the ultimate subservience. The proposed extension is set well back from the boundaries and is not in the least dominating the plot. On the question of detailing and style, we have been sympathetic to the original house. The render is identical to the dwelling house. To note, the windows in the original house are PVC double glazed, replicating the design of the original panes and astragals, they are not period windows. The height of the gable of the extension is in line with the current roof line, which I believe is sympathetic to the original house and much lower than Roslyn House (formerly Highland cottage) to the North side. We do not believe that our proposed extension impacts on any view within the conservation area. As stated above, the render and design of the windows will match Rosebank to provide continuity. In relation to roofing material, we have sought to emulate Ballachullish slate in keeping with character of Rosebank. Section 4: Relationship The address of Rosebank has always been Breadalbane Street. West Street itself runs from Breadalbane Street to the wall bounding the gardens of Argyll Terrace. For most of my childhood, West Street was an unmetalled dirt road, unlike Breadalbane Street. West Street was a subsidiary street used as a short cut to the Prison Brae (Bruthach-a-Phriosain). West street is described as a streetscape. Only two houses front onto West Street, east of Breadalbane Street. The first on the other side of West Street is Beul-an-Á̀tha, (Mouth of the Ford). The house pre- dates, Rosebank, by some years as it was built in the eighteenth century, the original house most likely pre-dating the British Fisheries Board’s planning of Tobermory in 1788. Under the current ownership, Beul-an-Átha, it was successfully extended approximately 30 years ago to create an additional wing with a continuous roofline. A small wooden car port was also established. The second house is a full height new build attached to the rear of Carna, a house which faces East towards the Prison Brae.
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4 Next to Beul-an-Átha, is a haulage yard owned and used by a local haulage contractor. The ruins of the building that stands in the yard on West Street, was never a dwelling house nor intended as such but simply a store. As you descend to the east followed by double gates which provide access to a house constructed in the 1970s, the aforementioned second house, attached to Carna and set back to the south. Indeed, Carna was considerably reformed by previous owners. The western face of Rosebank is the main aspect of the house on Breadalbane Street and if looking at the house from Breadalbane Street the extension will not be visible The original Beul-an-Átha is not opposite our proposed extension, but opposite the main front door of Rosebank. The extension is set back from West Street, behind the line of the garage and broadly runs from the East gable of Rosebank, which will remain. Because of the rising elevation of Breadalbane Street from south to north and the key point that Beul an Atha has been constructed well below the level of Breadalbane and West Street there is an inevitable disparity in the height of Beul-an-Átha in relation to Rosebank. This has been true since Rosebank was built in 1909. The houses were constructed in very different time periods and naturally vary in style. The whole of this section of Breadalbane Street is on a rising elevation most significantly on the Rosebank side of Breadalbane Street. The width of West Street and the location of the extension mean that there is very little visual or spatial relationship between the proposed extension and Beul-an-Átha. However, by the siting of the extension and retaining the style of Rosebank I believe the proposed extension will be an enhancement and no detriment to the status quo. Looking west is the telephone exchange that catches the eye, which one would expect an industrial building. I believed I have demonstrated that despite West Street having had little or no relationship to the 1788 plan we have shown the utmost respect to the space and the two buildings. Due consideration has been given to the key views within the conservation area and with regard to West Street despite its diverse nature we have held the stone boundary as is and the relatively recent garage construction. The greater part of West Street is formed by the haulage yard, the dilapidated stone store, a garage and a driveway entrance (please see Appendix A for photographs). The haulage yard and the dilapidated stone store is directly opposite the extension and the main sightline. This is the streetscape that the Planning Authority claim is in receipt of unacceptable impacts. This is simply not the case. As stated, the proposed extension sits very far back from West Street and sits within a very generous curtilage. To the North on Breadlabane Street stands Roslyn House, now an Airbnb (formerly Highland Cottage Hotel), which occupies a double site and has high elevation and a greater mass. Most importantly from this main thoroughfare the proposed extension is not visible. On that basis from this axis the proposed extension cannot materially be harmful to either the townscape or the existing dwelling. I do not know how the Planning Authority judge materiality. The Planning Authority claim not only is the extension harmful it is materially harmful. Again, from this axis of the main thoroughfare the extension cannot be seen yet it is described as overly dominant and an inappropriately designed development. In summary, I do not believe the extension will have negative impacts on the original dwelling house, the street, the buildings surrounding the extension or the totality of Tobermory.
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5 Section 5: Conclusion The proposal is simply for a house extension. I am perplexed by the strength of language used by the Planning Authority. Pejorative adjectives and adverbs are liberally sprinkled through the response. The adjectives describing the proposal are frequently accompanied by intensifiers. To my mind the Planning Authority language is overblown simply to defend a judgement based on pure subjectivity. It seems fundamentally unfair. The Planning Authority states that the extension will not share any of its features with any of the surrounding buildings. The surrounding buildings are all different in time-period and function. They range from new builds to the commercial premises of the Hotel/Airbnb to the public utilities of the Fire Station and the telephone exchange (please see Appendix A for photographs). I cannot see how there is any validity to the criticism that the planning extension will visually jar with any of these buildings – none of the buildings share features. The Planning Authority say in one place that the extension will be undistinguishable from the original house and at another point that it would be visually jarring. The two cannot be true. The Planning Authority notes that there was no significant public representation and feels that there are no significant or complex issues. I also ask the review body should note two letters of support from the neighbours in Highland Cottage and Beul an Atha. As I have previously stated, my regard and love of the history and culture of Tobermory has driven me to think very carefully about the proposed extension. To that end, I have commissioned the architect, Mr James Robertson. Mr Robertson has decades of experience designing domestic housing both public and private, and trained at the Glasgow School of Art. He is a senior architect and not to mention an architect with a deep understanding of the Scottish architectural traditions, history and townscapes. This is an opportunity for me to extend the house that has been in my family for generations; someone who is from Tobermory, grown up in Tobermory and continues the Gaelic tradition. The proposed plan accounts for the built landscape, the people, place and customs as I have outlined above. I seek to apply for planning permission to improve the quality and comfort of the house and to create an environment for successive generations to live, enjoy and thrive in. In meeting the needs of current and future generations I believe it will also fulfil the long- held aspiration of my father and grandfather. Yours faithfully, K McQuarrie