Category: Abbey Church

Consultees and Interested Parties have been invited to a site visit, which will take place this afternoon, Wednesday 29 August at 2.30pm.  Previously on Abbeylands I wrote about the vagaries of the Planning Application No 11/00704/P (Derelict Church Converted to a 5 Bedroom House and Walled Garden at Abbey Church, Dunbar). The proposal was knocked back and Listed Building Consent was refused. The applicant, a local man and associate of Richard Murphy Architects – the prestigious Edinburgh Firm – Grahame Armett submitted an appeal.

Members of the Local Review Body and the Planning Adviser will carry out the site visit to become familiar with all the physical aspects of the site and the surrounding area.

We have been asked to note that, although we can point out to the Members of the Local Review Body the features of the site that relate to the application, that they will be unable to enter into a discussion on the merits of the case or accept any additional evidence. Nor does it give any right to enter property or land without permission.

The Local Review Body meeting is tomorrow, Thursday 30 August at 2pm in Haddington.

Previously on Abbeylands I wrote about the plans for the Abbey Church to be converted into a 5 bedroom, 3 story home. Listed Building Consent was refused earlier this year. At exactly the time I was writing, the architect Grahame Armet submitted an appeal (3 June 2012). The substance of Armet’s appeal is that planning took too narrow a view of the proposed development. Armet states that the decision was framed narrowly within the confines of Policy ENV3 and Policy ENV4 [1. The Local Adopted Plan is here. ENV3 states (1) The external or internal alteration of a Listed Building will only be permitted where it does not harm the architectural or historic character of the building; (2) The demolition of a Listed Building will not be permitted unless there are overriding environmental or practical reasons. It must be satisfactorily demonstrated that every effort has been made to continue the present use or to find a suitable new use; (3) New development that harms the setting of a Listed Building will not be permitted. It is moot whether the development would be harmful, it would certainly impose some changes. 2 just transposes SHEP guidance. ENV4 merely rehearses the usual constraints and permitted development in a Conservation Area] and preconceptions of what the development should have looked like. I paraphrase here, but I think he is saying that a proposal that left the exterior unaltered would have got the the thumbs up and that decision makers are locked into a view that Dunbar is a provincial town where modern interpretations and change have no place. Armet quotes Scottish Planning Policy guidance in support of his case:

SPP Para. 111 – “the historic environment can accommodate change which is informed and sensitively managed, and can be adapted to accommodate new uses whilst retaining its special character”

Armet states also that any consideration of the future viability of this building was missing let alone the wider implications for this end of the High Street, were it to fall further into disrepair.

Continue reading Dunbar’s lost history in the making: Abbey Church

What does the Bedlam Theatre in Edinburgh have in common with the Abbey Church in Dunbar? Not much you’d think. Bedlam is home to a thriving theatre company and is the oldest fully student-run theatre in Britain. It has a 90 seat theatre and the Fat Cat Café are open for performances at least two nights a week during the University term. During the fringe Venue 47 49 is open 24/7. Bedlam is getting major roof repairs, not cheap.

By contrast, Abbey Church has remained unoccupied and unloved for around 40 years, used transiently as a reception centre when Torness power station was being built. Apart from occasional use, the last was in the mid 1990s, it has lain empty and progressively fallen into disrepair. The Buildings at Risk Register considers it to be at high risk and in poor condition, owing among other things to extensive wet and dry rot in the roof timbers and damaged rhones. Some attempts were made to bring the building back into use in the 1990s including a feasibility study for an arts facility under public ownership, as the site was and remains still in private hands. [1. The Buildings at Risk website has a useful potted history.]

Continue reading Bedlam Theatre and Abbey Church Dunbar