Tiree surfers' beach hut set for demolition given reprieve

Surfers are celebrating a victory over council planners after a beach hut on the Isle of Tiree was given a reprieve.

Tiree Surf Club members at the beach hut on Tiree. Picture: Roger Cox

The hut on Balevullin beach was facing demolition after Argyll and Bute Council rejected retrospective planning permission for the structure.

Councillors agreed that the beach should remain undeveloped and turned down the application.

An appeal reporter has overturned the council’s decision, saying that the beach hut - which acts a first aid post and a changing room for surfers - can stay.

• READ MORE: Tiree surfers’ beach hut to be removed after council vote

Nick Smith, the appeal reporter, told the Times: “Whilst the beach hut can be seen, I do not find that it automatically has an adverse visual impact.”

“I cannot conclude the impact of the proposal on view points, landform, linear features, texture or pattern is ‘major’, as the council did.

“I consider [it has] a ‘moderate’ to ‘low’ impact.”

Local business Blackwater Sports, which operates from the hut, welcomed the decision, adding that the hut attracted visitors to the most westerly Inner Hebridean island.