A homeowner has been told to either remove their large hipped roof or potentially face a demolition order by their local council.
Midlothian Council had approved theself buildhome in late 2019 but because the house was built during the Covid lockdown, planning inspectors were unable to inspect the property during the works. When restrictions were lifted they flagged that the roof was much larger than originally planned and needed to change.
The owner of the self build, which is in Kirkhill Terrace, Gorebridge, ignored the council's request to remove the hipped roof and instead submitted a retrospective application, which was subsequently rejected.
Self builder built hipped roof larger than agreed
Planning permissionwas granted for the dwelling on December 16, 2019, with the plans drawn up by Kenneth Reid architects. However, the hipped roof that was agreed in the plans was significantly smaller than the roof that was eventually built.
The roof was designed with a hip on either end of the property and finished with slate roof tiles.
The materials of the areas above the windows on the front elevation beneath the projecting sections were to use dark grey composite cladding.
Inspectors didn't visit due to Covid lockdown
During a Local Review Body meeting held in October 2020, councillors were informed that planning officers had observed that the house under construction "greatly exceeded" the size specified in the originalplanning conditionsand ordered to cease construction.
Although, due to the country going into lockdown and a lack of monitoring on new construction projects, work on the unauthorised house continued, eventually leading to its completion.
Despite an appeal, councillors upheld the initial refusal of the retrospective application for the house due to the size, and in particular, the size of thehip roofs称为“巨大”的议员德rek Milligan.
Earlier this year, the council issued an enforcement notice to remove the hip roofs or replace the roofing with a differenttype of roof, or a smaller one, or face the complete demolition of the house.
Council served enforcement notice after homeowner ignored demand to remove hipped roof
A revised application was submitted and granted approval, but the council still required the hip roofs to be removed, or replaced, which has yet to be acted on.
The homeowners addressed the issues of openings "on the north, south, east elevations" of the house that were overlooking into neighbouring properties. However, the two hips on the roof still remains, and as yet no work has been done to remove them.
A report from the council last week stated: “In February 2022 the applicants were provided with a voluntary six month period to remedy the breach of planning control.
“没有被采取措施补救违约和18 November 2022 the council served a planning enforcement notice.
“Following a site inspection in July 2023 it was identified that there had been no compliance with either of the notice requirements and as a consequence the landowners have been formally advised of the consequences of non-compliance including reporting the matter to the committee seeking authorisation to take prosecutorial action.”
Councillors are now looking to submit the case to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to pursue a fine to the homeowner, or a demolition order due to breaching the enforcement notice.
