Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Steptoe’s Yard facing enforcement after councillors block St Cyrus expansion bid

Peter Harrison beside a small part of his collection.
Peter Harrison beside a small part of his collection.

A popular coastal curiosity shop on the Angus/Mearns border will be the subject of council enforcement action following recent unauthorised expansion.

Steptoe’s Yard near St Cyrus is known across Scotland as a trove of modern and antique wares.

Owner Frank Harrison, who diversified his farm to cope with the BSE crisis, had applied to Aberdeenshire Council for more storage space and to retrospectively change its car park to storage – around 3,000 square metres in total.

Mr Harrison was previously given permission to run a shop with associated overspill parking at Nether Warburton Farm, but not storage.

The local authority knocked the application back after officers and SEPA expressed concerns about development on a flood plain by the River North Esk.

He applied to the local review body (LRB) after the Scottish Government’s planning appeals department ruled it had no remit to look at the appeal. Aberdeenshire councillors have now refused the application.

A spokesman said: “The matter is currently being considered by the Council’s Planning Enforcement Team, who are aware of the LRB decision, and are assessing the options available to them to resolve the breach of planning control.

“The council will enter into dialogue with the landowner to discuss the breach and the steps required to remove the unauthorised use of land.

“This will involve the taking of enforcement action to resolve the breach and will set out the steps and timescales for compliance.”

Karen Wiles, the council’s head of legal, stated: “The LRB were unanimously of the view that a proposal such as this is required to demonstrate a need for being sited in a coastal location and that social and economic benefits outweigh any adverse environmental impacts … no justification or need has been demonstrated to meet with the relevant criteria of the policy.”

The board also agreed with council officers that the site was at risk of flooding.

In their handling report, a planning spokesman said most of the site is surfaced in hard core, industrial material has already been stored on site for many months, and there had been a “long history” of unauthorised use of the site.

Mr Harrison’s agent John Frullani of Dundee has submitted that the council refused permission “without giving due consideration” to imposing conditions relating to flood risk and developing in a coastal zone.

Mr Harrison did not comment when approached.