A BID to build a house in the rear garden of a luxury property in Gullane’s conservation area will go before councillors after planning officials turned it down.

Mr Gordon Brown had applied to East Lothian Council for a “modest new house” to be created to the rear of six-bedroom Gateside House, on Gullane’s exclusive Hill Road.

Planners had refused the proposed garden infill development in May but Tony Thomas, of APT planning and development, representing Mr Brown, has now lodged an appeal.

The final say on the plans will now go to councillors on the local authority’s Local Review Body, which is due to meet at the end of next month.

Proposals for a house on the southern part of the rear garden were originally turned down by the council last summer before a revised application was submitted in April. However, that met the same fete.

According to the planning officer’s report, the proposed development would take up just under half of the rear garden ground.

Two objections were received from members of the public, including one which described the planned development as “architectural vandalism” while there was also a fear it would lead to further infill development.

Three conditions for refusal were outlined, including that the “subdivision of the large garden would result in the loss of a characteristic feature of the Gullane Hill area”.

The development was described as “harmful to the character and appearance” of the conservation area and “in its scale, layout and density the proposed house would not be sympathetic to its surroundings and would not respect, but would be disruptive of the characteristic layout and density of the built form of this part of Nisbet Road and of the Gullane Hill part of the conservation area”.

Further concerns centred on the idea that it could set “an undesirable precedent” for similar developments in the area and the impact on existing trees and shrubs.

Mr Thomas has submitted a seven-page review statement, urging the refusal to be overturned.

He disagreed with the assessment of the plans and said: “We have consistently stated that the proposed development of the area of garden ground at Gateside will not have a detrimental impact on the character and appearance of the conservation area. We believe that the creation of a new access and attractive new home will formalise and improve the relationship of the southern part of Gateside to Nisbet Road and the neighbouring properties.”