A Dumfries town centre bakery which broke council planning rules has avoided any punishment.
Marchbank Bakers, located in a conservation area on Castle Street, installed new windows and signage without seeking relevant permissions from the local authority.
The family-run business has since taken heat from Loreburn Community Council members, as well as some other shopkeepers, who were calling for the original shopfront with stained glass windows to be reinstated.
This would have had financial implications for the small family business, which had suffered a downturn in trade in recent years.
Speaking at the council’s planning committee last week, Anne Lindsay, chairwoman of Loreburn Community Council, said: “This council has a duty to enforce planning constraints in the conservation area.
“We wonder how you can justify a conservation area if these constraints are not enforced.”
She added: “Dumfries should be a destination town.
“Apart from its potential for eco-tourism, we need to capitalise on the stunning Georgian and Victorian architecture – the wonderful street geography of the town.
“Visitors, when they see over the litter and neglect, are enchanted by Dumfries’ beautiful old buildings.
“They have to look up. We have to look up. There has been so much damage done to street level frontages.
“We need to protect our built heritage.
“Loreburn CC are asking that the frontage of 1 Castle Street be reinstated.”
Harry Marchbank attended the planning committee to speak up on behalf of the small family business.
He said: “We’ve invested into our Castle Street shop as trade was taking a downturn over the last two or three years.
“We noticed trends that had been overlooked due to the poor presence the shop had on Castle Street.
“The original window frames in the shop had rotted and were allowing the poor weather to penetrate the frames, causing damp and mould on the window frames inside.
“This was picked up by Dumfries and Galloway Council’s environmental health in 2019.
“Since making these changes there has been a significant increase in footfall within the premises, which not only benefits our business, but it protects our employees’ jobs.It also increases footfall onto our declining High Street.”
He added: “I’d like to offer my apologies to the planning committee for naively making these changes without the relevant permissions.”
Council planning case officer Carla Livingstone argued that the retrospective consent should be granted, given that the building is not listed and the changes don’t have a negative impact on the character of the Dumfries Conservation Area. Councillors agreed, therefore the bakery’s new shopfront design will remain the same.
