South Ayrshire Local Plan

Countryside Residential Development Criteria

The Plan's settlement strategy establishes that new build housing in the countryside will generally be limited to that which is associated with agriculture or a rural enterprise when it is essential for its operation. However, within the Rural Diversification Area, areas outwith a reasonable commuting distance from the main centres of population are not subjected to the same levels of development pressure. In such areas national planning guidance recognises that provided environmental and sensitive natural resources are safeguarded, the encouragement of sympathetically designed and located single, or small scale residential development may assist in stabilising localised population loss and support the rural economy and services. The provisions of the Ayrshire Joint Structure Plan accord with this national planning guidance.

POLICY H8

Within the Rural Diversification Area, proposals for residential development outwith settlement boundaries may be permitted where it can be demonstrated that the proposal would constitute a limited addition to an existing, clearly defined nucleated cluster of four or more houses not delineated by a formal settlement boundary. Any proposed expansion of such a housing group will be limited to 50% of dwellings existing in that group as of May 2002, up to a maximum of four new housing units. The sensitive in-filling of any available gap sites consolidating existing dwellings within the group will be particularly encouraged.

Where proposals comply with the above, all developments must also demonstrate that:

The proposal, or cumulative impact of the proposal would not constitute, or add to unacceptable ribbon development; and
The proposal accords with the Council’s design guide for housing in the countryside.

The overall settlement strategy for South Ayrshire, detailed in Chapter 1, states that the Council will continue to direct housing development to settlements, where services and infrastructure are more readily available than in the countryside. Development in the countryside outwith settlement boundaries is therefore generally only permitted in certain circumstances. The availability of genuinely redundant buildings in the countryside can offer the opportunity to provide new homes subject to certain criteria being fulfilled. Many of these properties comprise traditional farm buildings and are an integral part of the rural landscape. Their re-use is considered by the Council to be preferable to them remaining unused and possibly falling into dilapidation due to the potential financial burden they may become to their owners.

Whilst generally being supportive of this type of residential development, the Council will seek to ensure that it does not have a detrimental impact on both its immediate and wider surroundings.

POLICY H9

The Council will give favourable consideration to proposals for the conversion and re-use of a genuinely redundant building of traditional/vernacular character in the countryside for residential purposes providing the building is substantially intact and structurally sound, is of residential scale and form and the converted building will retain the scale, character and proportions of the original building; and

if within the Greenbelt, it will not require significant external alterations and any extensions will be limited to those demonstrated as being essential to the creation of a single dwellinghouse from the original building; or
if within the rural protection area or Rural Diversification Area, any extensions proposed as part of the conversion shall be restricted to 50% of the original building (as at 1st July 1948), although sympathetic consideration may be given to larger extensions where there is no detriment to the locality or the original building.

NOTE 1 Permitted development rights may be removed in association with the approval of a conversion in the Greenbelt, and may in exceptional circumstances be removed as part of the approval of a conversion in the Rural Protection Area or Rural Diversification Area.

NOTE 2 In the Rural Protection Area or Rural Diversification Area, where it can be demonstrated that a building is structurally sound and intact, but the existing roof requires replacement, the Council may favourably view proposals which include the replacement of the roof with a new slate roof. In such circumstances the new roof must remain within the profile of the original roof and only minimal remedial repair works to the remaining structure which are essential to facilitate this replacement will be permitted.

NOTE 3 In exceptional circumstances in the Rural Protection Area or Rural Diversification Area, the Council may consider the restoration of a building without a roof or which would require remedial works to make it structurally sound. In such circumstances the Council would require satisfactory demonstration that the building is of particular architectural or historic merit or forms an integral element of an existing contiguous and readily identifiable group of buildings and the proposal would preserve and enhance the integrity of that group of buildings.

In assessing the prospective impact of proposals the Council will have regard to proposed extensions to the original building, garages and other domestic structures, any of which may alter the relationship between built form or residential uses and the original rural character of the site.

A similar stance is also taken for existing houses in the countryside although it is recognised that some extensions would not require planning consent.

POLICY H10

The extension of a dwellinghouse in the countryside will normally be permitted provided that the proposal:

Would not result in the creation of an additional independent dwelling; and
Is sympathetic to the scale, character and proportions of the original house, which should remain the dominant feature; and
Does not include any increase in maximum original wall head or roof ridge height.

NOTE 1 Proposals for extensions to dwellings should respect the scale and character of the original building as at 1st July 1948 or, when first constructed if later. Due regard will be given to this issue and, in order to ensure the proposed development is not incongruous, the Council will seek to restrict proposed extensions to 50% of the original building. However, sympathetic consideration may be given to larger extensions where there is no detriment to the character of the original building or of the locality.

NOTE 2 Proposed extensions to dwellings which are the result of a converted building will be assessed in terms of the provisions and principles of policy H9

POLICY H11

The replacement of an existing dwelling in the countryside will normally be permitted where

The existing dwelling is currently habitable; and
The existing dwelling is not the result of a temporary or series of temporary permissions and has been in use as a dwelling for at least 10 years; and
The proposal is in conformity with the Council’s adopted policy guidelines for new houses in the countryside; and
The siting of the proposed dwelling is substantially the same as that of the dwelling it will replace. Exceptionally, alternative siting within the same plot of the original dwelling may be acceptable where improvements to landscape/screening are achieved.
The size of the replacement dwelling is equivalent to the original dwelling being replaced, as at 1st July 1948 or when first constructed if later, with any additional floorspace being considered as an extension under the principles of policy H10.

NOTE 1 The Council may give sympathetic consideration to proposals where the existing dwelling is not habitable due to accidental loss by fire, flood or other similar occurrence where a planning application is received within 3 years of such occurrence.

NOTE 2 Where a new dwelling is to be built in a different location to the original, the Council will require the demolition of the original building, preferably prior to the construction of the replacement property. In all cases the reference to the "same plot" refers to land within the immediate environment of the existing dwelling.

The construction or conversion of buildings for residential use in the Rural Protection Area or Greenbelt may also involve the enclosure of agricultural land for domestic purposes. Large areas of domestic gardens can create an encroachment of suburban features into countryside areas, sterilises agricultural land and may set a precedent for further loss of agricultural land. The enlargement of existing garden ground may also have similar detrimental consequences.

POLICY H12

The Council will protect all grades of agricultural land and the countryside setting of properties in the Rural Protection Area and Greenbelt from loss through enclosure for residential or domestic purposes and will seek to ensure that garden ground for new or converted properties is commensurate in size with the dwelling it will serve.