A LONG-RUNNING bid to convert a derelict Borders farm building known locally as the ‘Blue House’ into a family home is back on the agenda.

A planning bid submitted to Scottish Borders Council (SBC) for the conversion and extension of a former agricultural store located near Swansfield Farm at Reston in Eyemouth into a “sustainable, off-grid dwelling house”, incorporating a 17.8m high wind turbine, was refused in August last year – despite a community rallying in support.

Dubbed the ‘Blue House’, the structure was a dwelling house in the 19th century before being converted for agricultural use, although now it is in a state of disrepair.

The applicant had a previous planning bid to convert the property refused in 2022 after the proposal was deemed “not be in keeping with the character and scale of the existing building”.

He re-evaluated the proposal and drew up a design that attempted to meet the requirements of the council’s local development plan.

The plans with required reductions were presented to Reston Community Council in May.

And during a long detailed discussion it was clear all members of the community council, as well as members of Reston Village Hall Committee and members of the public, unanimously agreed to support the planning application.

East Berwickshire councillor James Anderson was also firmly in support of the bid as it added a much-needed family home to the location and not another holiday home, which, he deemed, would have a “detrimental effect on housing stock”.

But council assistant planning officer Paul Duncan refused the revised application, stating: “The overall effect would be of a new build dwelling house in the open countryside extending off a more subservient old stone outbuilding.

“The development would therefore contribute to a sense of sporadic residential development in the countryside, to the detriment of the character of the site, the existing building, and the surrounding landscape.”

Now an appeal against that refusal is to be considered by SBC’s Local Review Body when members meet on Monday (January 22).

A statement with the appeal, from Berwick-Upon-Tweed-based Yeoman Architecture, states that it had been “inherently difficult” to produce a design that would be accepted by SBC.

It adds: “My clients purchased the site at Blue House with the comfort that the site had twice secured planning consent. They were not to know, the issues that would arise thereafter and the difficulties in trying to obtain planning consent.

“I ask the Local Review Body to consider the benefits of this proposal to create a modern, energy efficient family home, which is proposed to be respectful of the merits of the existing building in the setting, whilst being totally off-grid, sustainable and low carbon, undoubtedly, this is an opportunity for Scottish Borders Council to support sustainability in the area, therefore, I respectively hope the Local Review Body will reverse the original refusal and fully support this unique proposal.”