The owners of a Stanley hotel have been given extra time to remove an unauthorised chimney stack after losing a planning appeal.
The chimney was installed at the Tayside Hotel four years ago as part of an overhaul of the venue’s heating system.
Councillors refused a retrospective planning bid, claiming that the new biomass boiler would have a detrimental impact on nearby properties.
Their decision followed complaints from residents about “intolerable” smoke and acrid smells.
A second planning application was also turned down for the same reasons and an appeal to Scottish ministers was rejected.
Hotel owners Joanna Hardy and father William Twaddle were later served with an enforcement order from Perth and Kinross Council, ordering them to take down the stack within 45 days or face prosecution.
Now an appeal against this order has been refused by the Scottish Government’s directorate for planning and environmental appeals.
Reporter David Russell, who was tasked with investigating the case, said that the chimney’s installation was a breach of planning control.
“It is clear that the removal of the flue would remedy the breach of planning control which has occurred and the reinstatement of the roof would return it to its previous condition,” he said.
Mr Russell added that the hotel should be allowed up to four months to remove the chimney. “I consider that 45 days is unreasonably short, given the particular circumstances here which will require an alternative heating system to be installed, as well as removal of the flue and reinstatement of the roof,” he said.
Agents acting on behalf of the hotel had earlier accused the council of being “heavy handed”.
In a statement, Cockburn’s Consultants said the chimney should be allowed to stay after recent changes were made to the hotel’s boiler system, lowering its output by a third.
A spokesman said the boiler had been “unreasonably forced out of operation for more than three years” and claimed it had been the target of some “over-zealous” complaints.