A COUPLE who last winter launched a public bid to save their rural home from demolition have lost their fight.

Nick Charlton and Claire de Mortimer’s push to protect Barr Bheag cottage in rural Argyll won mass support as hundreds of people lodged official objections to an application to raze the 1930s house.

The application was lodged by the trust that owns the property and the 4000-acre estate it sits on in the hills above Taynuilt.

One of the two trustees is London lawyer Anthony Robin Marshall, Charlton’s brother-in-law. He took charge of the land after the death of his wife Josephine, at the age of just 34.

The Barguillean estate had previously been owned by the siblings’ grandparents and Charlton moved into the metal-clad dwelling 14 years ago, several years after the passing of his sister.

The National revealed how Charlton took the Trust to a specialist tribunal over the condition of the dwelling, with the panel ordering the owner to upgrade its condition in March 2017. That move came after the relationship between the brothers-in-law unravelled.

Following the ruling, the Trust asked Argyll and Bute Council for permission to demolish the timber-frame building and replace it with another structure. One year after this newspaper broke the story, which was followed up by the BBC and other media outlets, that permission has been granted by the Scottish Government’s Department of Planning and Environmental Appeals (DPEA).

Charlton said: “The support we got was amazing. We had 400-plus objections. But little of that mattered when it came to the planning law.”

The DPEA decision follows an appeal by the Trust after the local authority failed to rule on the matter within the statutory two-month deadline. Charlton and de Mortimer had argued that being forced to leave the property would end a lifelong connection to the land and force them out of the area, as well as creating a “dangerous precedent for the future, allowing other landlords to behave similarly and so depriving others of their homes”.

They also argued that finding an affordable alternative that would allow Charlton space to run his Rusty Cycle Shop business was unlikely and that its loss would harm the local economy, which is heavily reliant on tourism.

However, Marshall – a partner in the Construction and Engineering Practice Group of law firm Hogan Lovells – said the cottage row was “part of an extremely unhappy and unfortunate family situation”.

That situation will remain unresolved as the dispute moves on as the specialist tribunal is still scheduled to consider whether or not the Trust has met its obligations to the tenants.

The panel previously found the landlord had “failed to ensure” the cottage was “fit for human habitation” and inspectors found rotted woodwork on the floor and rear door, with internal damp and holes in the iron cladding also noted.

Failure to comply with the Repairing Standard Enforcement Order made could potentially result in prosecution.

The Trust argued that Charlton had blocked work from taking place and no progress on this has yet been made.

Meanwhile, the DPEA verdict does not include the right to repossess the house and the legal framework would allow Charlton to appeal to the Court of Session in Edinburgh – a move which could make for hefty legal bills.

The National contacted Marshall and the Trust for comment. However, no response had been received at the time of going to press.

Charlton said he and de Mortimer are “prepared for the outcome” of the tribunal, which is expected to be held in the coming weeks.

On the DPEA judgment, he said: “It’s not great for us. I want the landlord to be held responsible for his obligations.”