A 14-year house saga is back on the radar of Angus planners with the prospect of a third clean-up of the village property.
But the new owner of 1 Broomwell Gardens in Monikie has said the direct action threat has come as a “bolt from the blue” as he continues work to transform the house into a familyhome.
Angus Council spent more than £30,000 removing tonnes of rubbish, including cars, building materials and a boat from the Ewart family home in the quiet street during separate phases of direct action in 2007 and the following year.
They are unlikely to recover a penny of the five-figure sum after the property owner was sequestrated, and the house sold at auction to developer Allan Gledhill in August 2014.
Mr Gledhill’s plan is to develop the house which has historical connections to James Scott Skinner, the fiddle player known as the Strathspey King but Angus officials have placed a report before the authority’s development standards committee in Forfar today saying the new owner is in breach of an amenity notice and the only remaining option is another round of direct action.
A report to councillors states the condition of the site has notably improved under the current owner’s tenure.
“However, the owner has not completed work as agreed by the end of January 2016 and it is considered that the site remains in an untidy condition that continues to have an adverse impact on the amenity of the area.
“Accordingly, the remaining enforcement option available to the council is to take direct action.
“It is now considered to be proportionate and in the public interest to undertake this action.”
Mr Gledhill said he had been shocked by the report recommendation in light of constant dialogue with the authority over the site.
“We have been in discussion the whole way through and taking everything off the site that we could, given the fact that it is a building site,” he said.
“We had set a timescale of the end of January to get things tidied, that was our timescale, and I think we have achieved that to a reasonable level.
“There were a few specific things I have dealt with, but from the last discussion it seemed I had complied with everything the council wanted so this is a bit of a bolt from the blue.”