A HOLIDAY flat owner who was refused permission to keep operating has lost an appeal, despite claiming that the main objector used their property as a second home.

East Lothian planners refused to let Harriet Miles, the owner of the flat, off North Berwick High Street, change its use to a short-term holiday let because it shared a communal entrance with a ‘residential’ property.

However, Mrs Miles claimed that the other residence was a second home which its owner regularly allowed friends and family to use, creating their own turnover and noise.

Appealing to East Lothian Council’s local review body, Mrs Miles said: “The owner’s permanent address is elsewhere in Scotland. The owner sometimes spends several weeks at a time away from the property, during which time their property is either unoccupied or used by their family and friends.”

The review body was told that Mrs Miles, whose property is on Forth Street Lane, was refused permission to carry on operating it by planners, who said it was “incompatible with and harmful to the amenity of the occupants of the other flatted property used as a residential dwelling.”

Officers said that they had received four objections – two from the same person – to the change of use.

Since new legislation was introduced last year requiring short-term holiday lets to be licensed, the council has dealt with dozens of change-of-use applications and has been inclined to refuse permission for those sharing communal entrances and stairwells.

In this case, however, Mrs Miles said in her appeal that the fact the adjoining property was a second home should not have led to the refusal.

'Not justified'

She said: “The use of both is not, for the reasons stated, dissimilar given the use of [the adjoining flat] is not a permanent/long-term residence but rather a second property/holiday home. Given this, it is not justified to refuse consent in this instance.”

Councillor Donna Collins, a member of the review body, sympathised with Mrs Miles.

She said: “It has been going for five years and the only objections have been from a resident downstairs which is not a permanent home. I’d be mindful to let it continue.”

However, fellow review body member Councillor Neil Gilbert said: “I agree with planning officers, if this was a more permanent residence then people would be more mindful of neighbours.”

And Councillor Andy Forrest, chairing the review body, said that, while it had been reported that there had been no anti-social behaviour incidents at the property, it was hard to establish such incidents at short-term holiday lets.

He said: “Because people are only there for a couple of days [in short-term holiday lets], antisocial behaviour reports are not always investigated.”

The appeal was rejected by two votes to one.