AN ELDERLY couple's fight to save their home has been thrown out by Scottish Ministers after it was built without planning permission.

Farmer Ian Hodge had appealed to Scottish Ministers to intervene after East Lothian Council refused planning permission for the chalet which, he said, his in-laws had built with their savings.

Mr Hodge argued that the chalet was ancillary accommodation as the relatives would be providing childcare which would allow him and his wife to run the farm business.

However, local authority planners refused retrospective planning permission for the chalet, which has been on the site at Hodges Farm, at The Boggs, near Pencaitland, for two years.

And this week the Scottish Government Reporter backed the council's decision.

Rejecting an appeal by the family, the Reporter said: "I have considered the particular personal reasons, as set out in the supporting statement and letter of support, for the appellant seeking to have elderly family members located within close proximity.

"However, I am not convinced that these would represent a sufficiently special case to justify the requirement for an additional house on the farm holding."

In the appeal lodged on behalf of the Hodge family, their agents said the parents, who are 72 and 65, had used all their savings to move to the chalet and would have no home without the planning application being granted.

They added: "The appellant acknowledges and regrets their mistake in thinking the chalet did not require planning permission, but the situation has taken its toll with considerable stress upon the family, particularly with all uncertainty caused by the ongoing pandemic with (both parents) being within the vulnerable category on account of their age and health.”

The retrospective planning application to the council received 11 public objections.

The Reporter ruled that the appelants had breached the local authority's countryside policy which is against new builds unless they support local business.