Hi folks, a few subscribers to this forum will know of happenings at Bolton Muir Wood, a 100 acre LEPO* plantation near Gifford in East Lothian. Bolton Muir is a woodlands.co,uk site with 20 (roughly 5 acre) plots and about 10 plot owners with an interest in hutting. East Lothian Planning are broadly neutral about the idea of huts in the wood, but the local community council is publicly against it, and East Lothian councillor members of the Local Review Body dismissed a non-determination appeal earlier in 2021, which amounted to a refusal of planning for the aspirant hutter. This felt like a big setback.
However, some good news. Another owner also submitted an appeal for non-determination of a planning decision and the LRB sat last week, and much to everyone's surprise, permission was granted with some conditions. Obviously, this is only one application and each subsequent hut application will be reviewed on its own merits, but it rather looks like anyone sticking closely to the successful plan now stands a very good chance of achieving planning permission without having to resort to appeals.
1000 huts were quoted in the appeal submissions and indeed members of the campaign assisted too, so it really has made a difference. Thank you to everyone involved and hopefully we'll be 10 huts closer to 1000 in the coming couple of years.
* Long-established of plantation origin
Indeed Scott this is good news! We're looking to put in our plans in the next few week along similar lines though may push back on one or two of the conditions to see what happens.