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.

Council stops Pitlochry women from childminding at home due to flood risk

Yet the owner of the home says it has never been flooded.

Dalshian House in Pitlochry.
The council has refused an application for a childminding business at Dalshian House in Pitlochry. Image: J&H Mitchell

Council bosses in Perth and Kinross have prevented two women in Pitlochry from setting up a childminding business in their home over flooding concerns.

The proposal has been rejected despite co-applicant Lois Brown already living in the property.

Her supporting statement, submitted as part of a planning application, claimed a childminding firm was “sorely needed” in the Perthshire town due to two businesses shutting down.

Ms Brown and her friend had hoped to spread the word about their new business – called L&H Childminding LLP – through Facebook and word of mouth.

However, their proposal for Dalshian House in Old Perth Road was rejected after the environment agency Sepa said it “may put people or property at risk of flooding.”

Childminding idea thrown out over flood risk

In a statement, Sepa said: “We object in principle to the application and recommend that planning permission is refused.

“Based on the Sepa future flood naps, the entirety of the site is shown to be at risk of flooding from the River Tummel.

“Concurrently, two small watercourses are shown to the north and east of the site, which are not captured within the fluvial flood maps due to the small catchment sizes involved.

“This does not indicate that there is no risk of flooding from these sources.”

Dalshian House in Pitlochry.
Dalshian House. Image: Lois Brown

The statement added that several homes in the area were flooded in August 2002.

The area around Dalshian House itself was flooded in January 2016 “due to heavy rain and swollen rivers, which necessitated the presence of the fire service,” it continued.

‘We are appealing the decision’

Ms Brown, 31, said the second incident of flooding was only in the bottom corner of the garden and that the house was unaffected.

She plans to appeal the decision.

She told The Courier: “We are greatly disappointed about getting our planning permission for our childminding business rejected.

“We have worked hard on getting our business off the ground; [we have] applied via the Care Inspectorate and have passed the first stage of our application.

“We needed to apply for planning permission as we are doing the business as a partnership.

“If we had been doing it as a single application then planning permission would not be required.

“Sepa have said that they have rejected our application as the property has a flood risk, although the property has never been flooded.

“Pitlochry has a need for childminders as in the last two months one has retired and another has moved away from the area.

“It has already cost us £600 for the planning application, plus our Care Inspectorate fees.

“This process has been ongoing since May.

“We are appealing the decision and are contacting local councillors to see if they can offer us any help or advice.”

Pitlochry property was highly-rated bed and breakfast

Up to 12 children would have been looked after in the detached property.

Perth and Kinross Council planning officers had no concerns about the impact on neighbours.

But its decision report said: “The conflicts relating to land use vulnerability, with flood risk concerns, lead to the position that the part change of use itself cannot be supported.”

The property was previously a highly-rated bed and breakfast before changing hands in September 2021 for £600,000.

Conversation