Midlothian homeowner wins appeal against refusal to increase size of roof extension

A homeowner’s appeal against a refusal to allow him to increase the size of a roof extension was upheld by councillors in private after a public webcast was abandoned.

Midlothian Council’s Local Review Body was due to be held on Monday, with public access provided through the internet, but technical issues saw the live broadcast scrapped.

Despite this, the review body decided to proceed with the meeting and overturned the decision made by officers regarding the property.

A council spokesperson said elected members decided to go ahead with the meeting because they were ‘quorate’ but admitted it had not been ‘ideal’.

The appeal involved a bid to extend the size of a dormer window on the roof of a former miner’s cottage in Park Road, Newtongrange, by just under a metre in width.

Planners had rejected the application by David Cameron, saying it was a ‘bulky addition’ to the roof and would be ‘unsympathetic’ to the character of the building.

However Mr Cameron’s representatives argued no-one was going to look at the larger dormer and think it had a detrimental impact on the building adding: “The extension to the dormer will have a significant benefit to the applicant as it will make the bedroom considerably more functional by allowing standing space around the bed and reduce the chance of collision with the slope of the ceiling.”

Midlothian Council has moved all of its meetings out of its main offices at Buccleuch House, Dalkeith, until March 2027 while it undergoes a £12.6m refit and is currently based in specialist housing complex Normandy House.

The local authority said that due to a lack of space in the temporary building, the public will not be able to attend meetings there and all ‘public’ meetings will be broadcast live on the internet or recorded and made public afterwards.

Normandy Court was initially built as a 56-bed care facility for the elderly on the site of the old Dalkeith High School.

However, Midlothian Health and Social Care Partnership, which would have provided care at the site, withdrew from the project after the council cut its budget, leaving them unable to afford it.

Instead, it was turned into 38 amenity flats for over-55s from the council’s social housing list.

The decision by the Local Review Body has been issued on the planning portal this week however, the reasons behind councillors’ decision to overturn their officers recommendations were not given.

A council spokesperson said: “The full draft minute for approval will be available as part of the next Local Review Body agenda papers.

“We are aware this is not ideal, but as the alternative was to abandon the applicant’s hearing, it was agreed on balance to be the best course of action.”