A hut or not a hut? Council seeks independent cabin size check

A council is to call in an independent surveyor to measure the size of a countryside cabin in a bid to settle a planning dispute.

An appeal was lodged with the local authority in Dumfries and Galloway after it failed to grant retrospective planning permission for the structure near Clenries Farm close to Sanquhar.

Under planning regulations, a hut must have an internal floor space of no more than 30 square metres (m2) - but a planning officer measured it at 30.9m2.

However, an agent for the applicant argued that if bedroom wall insulation was taken into account it would bring the size down to 29.9m2. Councillors agreed to seek an independent report before making a final decision.

Scottish planning policy specifies a hut must be "a simple building used intermittently as recreational accommodation ... having an internal floor of area no more than 30m2".

It must also be constructed of "low impact materials", generally not connected to mains water, electricity or sewerage and built in such a way that it is removable with little or no trace at the end of its life.

They may be built singly or in groups.

However, the retrospective application has fallen foul of the regulations by less than a metre.

During a meeting this week Annandale South councillor Sean Marshall asked whether any external check had been made on the measurements.

He said: "Has there been any independent verification of that?

"We've got the two parties - we've got the planner saying that it's this size and we've got the applicant's agent saying that it's below 30m2, so I just wondered if anyone had actually checked."

Robert Duncan, a senior council planning officer, confirmed that no independent verification had been carried out.

The council's solicitor advised that as the measurement was the determining point of the entire case, it was open to the local review body to commission an independent surveyor to physically measure the cabin's floor space.

Duncan agreed, telling members it was "probably your safest option."

Councillors voted to adjourn and seek that independent report before making any final determination.

Reporting by local democracy journalist Marc McLean.