Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Impaired Blairgowrie woman, 77, unable to sleep downstairs after council blocks extension

The Perthshire couple applied for a downstairs extension to build a bedroom, accessible bathroom, and storage area so that Gillian could visit her garden.

The house on a summer's day. The roof has red tiles and the majority of the building is white. There is green grass at the bottom of the image.
Exterior of the house near Blairgowrie. Image: Urban Rural Design Studio

An impaired Perthshire OAP is unable to sleep downstairs because the council has blocked her application to build an extension.

Gillian Morison suffers from osteoarthritis, which hinders her from reaching the upstairs bedroom of her home near Blairgowrie.

The 77-year-old applied for a downstairs extension to create a bedroom, accessible bathroom and storage area.

It would also have given her easy access to the garden from her bedroom.

But Perth and Kinross Council claimed the proposal would not preserve the “special character” of her C-listed home in the Coupar Grange area.

Blairgowrie OAP wants to ‘see the garden’

Husband John Morison, 79, said the extension would have enabled his wife to “see the garden.”

He said: “My wife is quite slightly immobile, and it would be nice just to have that.”

In the past 20 years, Gillian has had several operations to ease her osteoarthritis.

But a surgeon has said there is nothing more they can do.

Another angle of the house from the outside. There is a stone patio on the ground and a red tiled roof.
The plan included the demolition and removal of the garage. Image: Urban Rural Design Studio

John says that being able to sleep downstairs would make a “huge difference” to her life.

The supporting statement says the proposed extension would also allow the applicant to live in the house longer, as her poor health impeded her access to the upper floors.

Council officers claim the decision will protect the appearance of the house.

“It’s like a Tudor house,” John said.

“They call it something you would get down in the Home Counties.

“And it’s got a red pantile roof, so it’s unusual for the area.”

Perth and Kinross Council allowed previous extension

However, the couple have already received planning permission for a ground-floor extension, in 2008.

John continued: “We’ve already had an extension put on the other end of the house for a sunroom.

“This would be exactly the same as the other end of the house.

“We thought it would complement it and it would look good.

“It would be a sort of a U-shape.”

He added that getting permission from the council for their first extension was much easier.

The council’s decision statement also said the scheme was contrary to the Perth and Kinross Local Development Plan.

Gillian and John have since appealed the decision.

Conversation