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.
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