PLANS to use a yurt for yoga in the countryside are proving stressful with Fife Council insisting on a legal agreement to address road safety concerns before they grant permission.
Lisa Mulube runs classes and a range of therapy sessions at her peaceful site at The Foundry, near Charlestown, while she uses the grounds for a "mindfulness labyrinth" and herbal edible garden.
She started the Yoga Social in 2017 and has been using the yurt since August 2021 but wasn't aware that she needed planning permission while her agent said the request for a legal agreement was "excessive".
An application for retrospective consent, including an outbuilding and shed on her land, was submitted in February.
Council officers recommended refusal and enforcement action while councillors on the west and central planning committee were broadly in favour but couldn't come to a decision at their last meeting.
The application was discussed again last week.
Case officer Brian Forsyth maintained it would be an "unjustified" development in the countryside, would result in a "significant uplift" in traffic and would be served by a "substandard private road with substandard visibility" onto the C7 West Road.
He told the committee that, while it may be desirable, there was no proven need for yoga and therapy sessions to take place in a countryside location.
The site is north-west of Charlestown, sits within 980 square metres of grounds and is reached by a private road that also serves two other properties and a Scottish Water wastewater treatment site.
The plans received eight letters of support and one objection.
Road safety is the main issue, in particular the visibility splays from the private road onto the West Road, which has a 60mph speed limit.
Council officers said that, if plans were to be approved, they wanted a section 75 legal agreement in place to make sure hedgerows and vegetation were regularly cut back and maintained to ensure drivers could easily see any traffic on the road.
However, the area at the junction is under the ownership of a third party, Broomhall Estate, and not the applicant.
Ms Mulube's agent said she was "not in a position" to sign a legal agreement and the estate had confirmed the splays would be maintained.
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However council solicitor Steven Paterson said: "It's fine to say the Broomhall Estate may do something but there's no compulsion on the estate to do anything at all if they are not signed up to the legal agreement.
"What happens if the ownership of the estate changes and the new owner takes a different view?"
He also suggested that, in an "extreme" case, the council could be found liable for any accidents if the committee knew of a road safety risk and did nothing about it.
Committee convener, Cllr David Barratt, said a countryside location was the right place for what he felt was a "countryside retreat" and had been reassured by the applicant as regards the splays.
However he added: "I'm also hearing what officers are saying in relation to exposing the council to damages.
"So while I'm sympathetic to the applicant when they say it's excessive to seek a section 75 legal agreement, I'm struggling to see how we can approve without it, given what the officers are telling us."
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