The owner of woodland on the edge of a community has hit back after he was refused permission to fence in nearly 100 metres of it despite a stone wall doing to same on the other side of the road.
An application by the owners of a cottage at Carberry, Whitecraig, in East Lothian, to replace an existing wire fence with a six ft high timber one, was rejected by planners who said it would create a ‘harmfully imposing feature’ at the entrance to the community.
However in an appeal to the council’s Local Review Body agents for the Shearers, who own the site, say the suggestion it is intrusive when “on the opposite side of the road a tall stone wall bounds the woodland that exists there” is wrong.
And they say claims by planning officers that the fence would result in the loss of trees is not correct.
They say: “The applicant owns this woodland and the reason for the fencing is to safeguard it as it forms an important screen for his property considering to the rear of his property is the waste and recycling centre and the A6124 is a main route for lorries travelling to this commercial facility.
“The officer and the councils landscape officer have stated that the fence will result in the loss of, or damage to a number of existing trees and yet offer no evidence to back this up, this is merely a personal opinion based without facts.
“The verge will need tidied up and overgrown scrub removed along with
the existing fence (or what remains of it) however the whole point of this fence being erected is to safeguard this woodland area not to destroy it by removing or damaging trees.”
Rejecting the original planning application for the 95-metre long fence planners said the timber fence was ‘inappropriate’ in the surrounding landscape.
They said: “The proposed length of fencing would appear as a visually prominent and harmfully imposing feature to the detriment of the character and appearance of the woodland area.
“By virtue of its extent, height, solid form and its exposed roadside position, the proposed length of fencing would appear as a harmfully dominant and intrusive feature within its woodland setting which would detract from the character and appearance of the landscape of the area.”
The appeal will be heard by the council’s Local Review Body later this month.
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) is a public service news agency. It is funded by the BBC, provided by the local news sector (in Edinburgh that is Reach plc (the publisher behind Edinburgh Live and The Daily Record) and used by many qualifying partners. Local Democracy Reporters cover news about top-tier local authorities and other public service organisations.
