THE owner of a holiday flat in North Berwick has been granted a temporary licence to operate it, despite not having planning permission.

Licensing bosses were urged to reject the licence by the only permanent resident in the block of six flats on Balfour Street, who said that guests in the flat and others rented out in his block created anti-social problems.

However, at a meeting of East Lothian Council’s licensing sub-committee, councillors agreed to allow the licence but restricted it to 18 months, after encouraging the resident owner to lodge formal complaints if he encountered issues in the future.

The sub-committee was told that a planning application for a change of use of the property to a short-term holiday let had been refused by the local authority’s planners.

Their legal advisers said that was not a reason to refuse an operating licence, telling councillors that the two issues were separate but that, even if they granted a licence, the flat owner risked planning enforcement if he operated it without the relevant consent.

Flat owner James Miller-Stirling told the meeting that the flat was a second home which he used on trips to North Berwick but also rented out during the summer season.

He said that he had bought the property in 2018 and produced letters from two other flat owners in the building supporting its use as a holiday let.

'Tension'

However, the committee also heard from Neil McIlwraith, who has lived in the block for more than 20 years and said that he was now the only permanent resident in the block of six flats.

He appealed to the committee not to grant the licence, saying that he encountered anti-social behaviour from people staying in the other flats, from leaving carrier bags of empty wine and beer bottles in the garden to gathering outside the flat door chatting and smoking late in the evening.

And when asked whether he had complained about incidents, he said that it was difficult because it could create "tension" with guests in other flats during their stay.

Mr McIlwraith told the committee: “As the only permanent resident of the flat, an unfair burden is placed on me to deal with overseeing repairs, rubbish and other issues.”

Councillor John McMillan said that there was a need from a licensing point of view to balance the benefits of holiday lets to tourism in the town and the impact on residents.

He proposed granting a licence to cover the next two summers to allow licensing to monitor any incidents or complaints from neighbours.

He said: “My proposal is we grant for 18 months until the end of September 2025 and monitor the situation,”

The proposal was approved by the committee.