East Lothian residents lose fight to keep bin sheds on shrubbery beds outside their garden gates

Home owners living in Pithead Heights, Prestonpans, created the wooden covers after arguing that the council’s decision to only empty household waste every three weeks left them with stinking bins in their small gardens.

And they pointed out there was nothing to stop them putting the bins themselves out on the street, adding the wooden covers simply made them look more tidy.

East Lothian planners ordered the sheds to be removed after a single complaint. Two residents who appealed an enforcement notice to Scottish Ministers have now lost their battle, after the Scottish Government Reporter backed council planners saying the land the bins are on must be returned to communal space.

At least four home owners in Pithead Heights, in Prestonpans, installed the wooden storage units over the last four years.

However the single complaint from another resident led to years of wrangling with the local authority, with the householders ordered to apply for planning permission for the shed, which was then refused.

Christine Klien is one of the Prestonpans residents who appealed over bin sheds. | LDR

Residents Christine Klien and Susan Ralston both appealed the order from the council to remove their bin sheds. A third resident Debbie Gray had her appeal dismissed as being submitted a day too late for consideration by the Reporter.

At the time Debbie, a nurse, criticised the council for wasting money pursuing the enforcement notices when there was nothing to stop the residents just putting their bins out on the strip of land.

She said: “There is nothing to stop us putting our bins outside our gates all the time. All we have done is put up a storage unit which makes it look tidy and stops recycling from being swept all over the street in windy weather.

“East Lothian Council is always banging on that it has no money, so why is it wasting public funds pursuing enforcement action, It is a huge waste of time and money over something which received a single complaint and is doing no harm.”

Christine Klien, a business operations manager, said she was stunned when the council told her she had unlawfully “extended her garden”.

She said: “They have no problem with the bins being left on the same strip of land all the time, other residents have put slabs down over the shrubbery to create a neat spot for them and not faced action.

“I have a dog and if I keep the household bin in the garden he goes straight to it because the three weekly collections mean it can smell. It ruins the garden for us.”

The Reporter dismissed both appeals saying the plans for the housing clearly showed no planning permission was in place for the sheds and they did breach planning rules.