A “LACK of knowledge” about East Lothian Council’s own policy by its own officers has been alleged in a row over the right to build a new house in the countryside.

A planning application to build the three-bedroom home and a detached garage on the outskirts of Camptoun Holdings, a small hamlet two miles north of Haddington, was refused by the local authority for the second time in five years.

However, the applicants have now lodged an appeal in which they claim the planning officer who turned them down did not understand the policy used to make that decision.

They claim that the house, which would be built on land currently occupied by derelict agricultural buildings, should be classed as an “enabling development” because they say it would improve the area.

In an appeal which will be heard by the council’s Local Review Body next month, they state: “The planner, in the pre-application response, did not accept that the proposed development was an enabling development.

“However, it is submitted that this conclusion only serves to demonstrate the lack of knowledge of the development process.

“To allow for the removal of derelict buildings and reclamation of an unkempt site requires third-party intervention.

“The applicant is submitting a proposal for a single dwelling house and garage absorbing the costs of demolition and reclamation.

“The development will bring substantial improvements to this rural brownfield land and improve landscape quality as well as visual and residential amenity.”

East Lothian Council has a planning policy which bars new housing in the countryside unless exceptional circumstances can be established.

The plans for a house at Camptoun Holdings were first lodged with the council in 2014.

On that occasion they were refused and the Local Review Body rejected an appeal.

Agents for the applicants this time around will argue that there has been a change in circumstances at the site, which has deteriorated further over the years.

The Local Review Body meets in Haddington on Thursday, May 16.