A ROW over a rural home built without planning permission could cost the council thousands of pounds after it was accused of putting out a “fundamentally flawed” enforcement order.

Farmer Ian Hodge was ordered to have the chalet, built with his elderly parents’ savings, removed after he was refused planning permission by East Lothian Council for the home.

An appeal to Scottish Ministers failed to overturn the original planning decision and the local authority issued an enforcement notice.

However, Mr Hodge has now challenged the validity of the notice itself, with his agents accusing the council of acting “unreasonably”.

And they have asked Scottish Ministers to throw out the notice and award the farmer expenses, forcing the council to pay for the cost of the appeal.

In the appeal statement, Mr Hodge’s agents say: “The notice is fundamentally flawed and invalid.”

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They argue that information has been left out of the notice, pointing out that it orders the removal of development “listed in schedule 3” but does not have a schedule 3 attached.

And they say that the occupants of the chalet, Mr Hodge’s parents, were not served with a copy of the notice, which they should have received.

Arguing that the Scottish Government Reporter should declare the notice void, they also ask for expenses to be paid by the council.

They add: “The unreasonableness of the council’s behaviour is compounded by the fact that the notice was served following the withdrawal of a previous enforcement notice which the council stated contained ‘an administrative error’.”

“The award of expense should clearly specify that the council must pay the appellant’s entire costs.”

Mr Hodge had originally argued that the chalet was ancillary accommodation as the relatives would be providing childcare, which would allow him and his wife to run the farm business.

However, local authority planners refused retrospective planning permission for the chalet, which has been on the site at Hodges Farm, at The Boggs, near Pencaitland, for two years.

The retrospective planning application to the council, which was refused last year, received 11 public objections.

A spokesperson for East Lothian Council said: "We have just been made aware of this appeal and will respond in due course. It would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”