Midlothian homeowner wins appeal against decision to refuse permission for EV charger

A Midlothian homeowner who was refused permission to put an electric car charger on the side of his house has won an appeal against the decision.

The driver parks his car on land at the front of his house, which he owns, but which councillors were told had been adopted as part of the public highway.

Transport Scotland objected to his being allowed a charger, saying it would mean the cable being stretched across the pavement.

However, after visiting the home in Pathhead, councillors questioned why he should be refused permission to put it on his own land.

Councillor Willie McEwen told a meeting of the local authority’s Local Review Body: “I have never come across a situation where the owner of a house is trying to conform with national government policy, Scottish Government policy, and Midlothian Council policy in putting in an electric car charger on his own land and been told by Transport Scotland that they are objecting to it.

“We can quite clearly see there is no way this owner is encroaching on the footpath, it doesn’t make sense to me that we are here contemplating perhaps a refusal of planning.

“What is the alternative for this house owner. He is doing his best to conform to our policy, government and national policy, yet we are minded to question his integrity and what he is doing on his own land.”

Councillor Dianne Alexander raised concerns that there was no clarity over whether parking outside the house was legal or not, and what would happen if the charger cable was tripped over by a pedestrian using the land as part of the footpath.

However, Councillor Peter Smaill called for a condition to be added to the planning permission which would restrict the cable to the tarmac area outside the front of the house to ensure the cable is never stretched across the pavement to a vehicle on the road.

And he said that while he accepted the land had been adopted by Transport Scotland, they had not acted to stop vehicles parking on it.

He said: “Transport Scotland has been allowing cars to park on this land for many years. When you look at the picture, the wire will be so close to the car, I do not see what mischief can be caused.”

The council’s planning chief, Peter Arnsdorf, told members that the land outside the house may be owned by the homeowner but had been adopted as part of the public highway. He warned that a decision to allow the charger to be installed would need to be referred back to Transport Scotland.

He said: “Whether we think it is right, wrong or common sense, the land is part of the public highway. The ownership of it is a secondary issue to that. In theory, it breaches the council’s policy for not parking on pavements; it is just a slight anomaly that you have a different landowner of that piece of ground.

“It is unusual but not unique; If the local review body is minded to grant permission, it will need to be referred back to Transport Scotland.

The Local Review Body agreed to grant the appeal with the condition restricting the charger’s use to the land under the house ownership.