A TREEHOUSE which has caused an outcry among a group of residents in an Edinburgh suburb and has led to the involvement of political figures at both central and local government level looks set to have been spared, write Raymond Duncan and John McEachran.
Planning officials who have studied the history and development of the eight-metre high Morningside timber structure, clad with strips of bark giving a log cabin appearance, will tell councillors today it should be immune from enforcement action.
The saga of the treehouse and its timber platform in the garden of a stone-built villa in Nile Grove within the Morningside Conservation Area has been running since the late 1980s.
In recent times Edinburgh South MP Nigel Griffiths and local councillor Mike Pringle have intervened on behalf of neighbours who claim the treehouse is, among other things, intrusive, out of place and devalues property.
The residents also claim issues of privacy, safety and noise resulting from the treehouse, which was erected eight years ago by a previous owner of the house. A platform was erected by the present owner.
Occupants in Cluny Avenue, to the rear, claimed development was continuing and the planning committee decided to refuse planning permission and called for a report on enforcement action.
After consultations with adjoining neighbours, officials in August contacted the present owner who submitted a proposal to reduce the surface area of the platform.
The city's Head of Planning, Mr Alan Henderson, in his report, said: ''In conclusion it is considered the treehouse is immune from enforcement action and parts of the platform constitute permitted development. These matters cannot be pursued by the planning authority.''
He said the log effect cladding needed planning permission but its removal would not resolve neighbouring loss of amenity and would have an adverse affect on the treehouse's appearance.
''This structure does undoubtedly create privacy and other amenity problems for neighbours but these difficulties would not be resolved by the limited action available to the authority.''
Last night Mr Pringle said he was not satisfied and would ask the planning committee to visit the site.
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