Published: Thursday, 13th January, 2011 9:24am

by Bryan Copland

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A COUPLE have been given the green light to continue to run a five-star bed and breakfast from their historic mansion just west of Haddington – despite strong opposition from neighbours.

Chris and Barbara Sharman were on Tuesday awarded retrospective permission from East Lothian Council planning committee to use five rooms in the 17th century grade B-listed building as a guest house, despite 14 objections by occupiers of neighbouring East Cottage, Little Letham and West Letham.

Only last month, it was announced that lovingly restored Letham House had become one of only seven guest houses in Scotland to be awarded five stars by tourism bosses.

But opponents claimed on Tuesday that the belated change of use to allow the business to continue would have an adverse impact on the amenity of their properties – which share a courtyard with Letham House.

Letham House, just to the west of Haddington, had been operating as a guest house, without proper planning permission, for about a year

Council planners had recommended that the planning committee grant permission – and councillors unanimously agreed. And they discarded a proposed condition of approval which would have seen a hedge built to protect the privacy of nearby homes.

Jim Sorrell, speaking on behalf of neighbours of the property, told councillors that Mr and Mrs Sharman’s previous running of the bed and breakfast without planning permission had shown a “total disregard for the planning process and your authority”.

“We are being asked whether to keep the stable door open well after the horse has bolted,” he said, before claiming there had already been “many unfortunate consequences [of the bed and breakfast running]”.

These included, he alleged: noise caused by guests arriving and from using mobile phones; vehicle noise; and some guests calling into neighbouring properties after mistaking them for the Letham House reception.

The guest house, he said, was being run as a “substantial commercial operation” and the facilities had already been used by a number of groups for meetings and conferences.

In his view, the business was only one step away from becoming a hotel.

However, council planning official Brian Stalker said that that would require a separate planning application.

Haddington councillor Sheena Richardson, county provost, said she could “appreciate the disquiet that neighbours have” but that the building’s use as a bed and breakfast as opposed to a house was “no more of a change than if it was a big family living there”.

Councillor Stuart MacKinnon said: “There is a fear that this in different ownership, in time, will maybe develop to a bigger operation and I’m concerned there’s nothing in the conditions that would address this problem. But generally I support the application.”

Following the decision, Mrs Sharman admitted that although the couple had been running the bed and breakfast for about a year they had stalled on applying for planning permission until the success of the business could be gauged.

But following a busy first few months, they applied in October last year.

And Mrs Sharman told the Courier she hoped that Tuesday’s meeting had gone some way to alleviating neighbours’ concerns.

“We are pleased that we got the unanimous decision,” she said.

A stay at the luxury house costs from £65 per person per night, though this rises in the summer months.