Monday December 15th 2025
Strip of land at end of cul de sac beside Gateside Avenue in Haddington has been fenced off by its owner who stores construction related materials there.
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A construction worker accused of turning a strip of land on a residential street into a ‘builders yard’ has lost an appeal after filing it a day too late.
John Friel said he bought the strip of land in Haddington to use as a ‘lay down area for ad hoc personal items’ and challenged claims by East Lothian planners that it had been turned into a yard without permission.
The council issued an enforcement order last month ordering Mr Friel to remove security fencing around the site and take away any “building materials, equipment and any other miscellaneous items associated with the unauthorised material change of use”.
However his attempt to stop the action with an appeal to Scottish Ministers has been thrown out after their appeal office said it had been lodged too late.
In a letter to Mr Friel, a case officer says the date for action to be taken was December 10 – the same day the appeal was lodged with the government office.
They said: “In order to be accepted, this appeal should have been received by our office the day before the effective date specified in the notice. We have no scope to accept or consider appeals received after this deadline.”
In his appeal to Scottish Ministers Mr Friel, who gives his address as Hope Park, Haddington, said when he bought the land there was nothing in the deeds to suggest he could not use it for storage.
He said: “There has been no development of or on the land in any form and it is not being used as a builder’s yard. I purchased the land a number of years ago and the deeds do not mention any restrictions on the use of the land as a personal storage area.
“I am currently unemployed however my vocation is in the construction industry. So from time to time these personal items may include some of the tools etc required for my work . Due to reduced work load and by coming close to retirement, I do not access my storage area for these things regularly at present.
“I visit the area of land extremely rarely, a maximum of three or four times per year. So there is very little access required and little disruption to those in the vicinity of the land strip.”
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