The building comprising the two flats was originally a detached house which would be reinstated by creating an opening in an internal partition wall. The reporter acknowledged that this could amount to a building operation but pointed out that section 26(2)(a) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 declared that works that affected only the interior of a building did not amount to development. She reasoned that while section 26(2)(f) provided that a change of use of a building from a purpose within any class in the use classes (Scotland) order to any other purpose within the same use class did not involve development, it did not follow that a change from a sui generis use to use within a use class was necessarily material and thus development. She held that the relevant factors in determining whether the proposed change of use would be material were the degree to which it would change the character of the use and its effects on the locality. She found that, as a matter of fact and degree, the activities likely to be generated by one household rather than two would not materially change the character of the use of the site or have any material effect on the primarily residential locality in planning terms.
Reporter Janet McNair; Written representations
