The owners of a small storage shed set up to keep wheelchairs and bikes from blocking a communal stair have been ordered to apply for planning permission – despite it being smaller than other sheds in its street.
Residents of a block of four flats in Gullane came together to install the shed in a garden shared with neighbouring properties to stop them causing a hazard in their stairwell.
But despite claims other neighbours have taller individual sheds in the garden grounds, they were told their bike shed needed planning permission.
In a statement to East Lothian Council on behalf of the residents, they said their 1.5 metre high shed, which is just 3 metres long stored two wheelchairs and up to ten bicycles which would otherwise create a safety issue in the stairs.
And they told planning officers: “Currently there are another four individually owned full height (over 2m) sheds in the garden jointly owned by the tenement of Rosebery Place, which is shared between 12 residential and 6 commercial properties.
“The owners/residents of the four properties ( involved) have no access to any of these sheds.”
The bike shed, which is built at the back of the property on Roseberry Place, within an enclosed communal garden, was ruled to require planning permission by East Lothian Council officers after it had been installed.
The residents said they did not realise the shed was not an acceptable addition to the property and argued that it was essential to store equipment.
They said: “The shed provides much needed storage for two wheelchairs and a number of bicycles (circa 10) owned by the residents.
“These items were previously stored within the common stairwell however of late posed a safety risk to residents and visitors, hence the requirement to build extra external storage.”
The application has been lodged on the East Lothian Council planning portal.
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