Latest news with #Pat
Daily Record
7 days ago
- Business
- Daily Record
Couple fuming after wasting £500k on property as planners refuse to let them turn into home
Pat Sharp and her husband Nigel spent £500,000 on the property seven years ago. A Scots gran says her local council has robbed her husband of spending his final years in their dream home after they spent over half a million pounds buying an empty building. Pat Sharp and her husband Nigel bought the former bank building on Westgate in North Berwick, seven years ago after it was put on the market by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Despite it not having planning permission to be converted into a house, the couple from Edinburgh paid more than double the £250,000 asking price, and Pat says they still only narrowly outbid other interested parties, reports Edinburgh Live. However, they have been left with a derelict building after planners repeatedly rejected applications to turn it into a home insisting it was a commercial building which was needed in the popular town centre. Pat says the couple had originally bought an upstairs flat in North Berwick to bring their grandchildren and create precious memories. After Nigel, retired from his job as a managing director of an international company however, he was sadly diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease. She said: "Our daughter Cheryl passed away after being diagnosed with CUP (Cancer of Unknown Primary) when the girls were very young and made us promise not to just buy them things but to build memories with them and given them precious experiences. "I don't know why we thought of North Berwick but we did and it was a favourite place for the girls and us when they were young. When I saw the bank hall was for sale I thought it would be perfect for our retirement and Nigel, who could no longer cope with the stairs in the flat." Sadly for Pat and Nigel, who is 78, his condition has now deteriorated to the point he has had to move into a care home to get the required support. Pat said: "He has been robbed of the chance to spend his final years in what we wanted to be our dream home, looking out over the North Berwick coast and remembering all our wonderful times here. it is devastating." Planners from East Lothian Council have rejected several application to turn the building into a home and dismissed claims by Pat and her team that attempts to sell it as a commercial venture have been unsuccessful after describing the £595,000 price tag put on it as "excessive". Pat says attempts have been forced to try and sell the building for commercial purposes with plans to convert it into a cafe approve by the council at one stage, but nothing has worked so far. Rejecting plans to turn it into a home planners said that it would be a "loss of a ground floor Class 1A commercial premises within North Berwick Town Centre where there is no evidence that the premises is no longer viable as a town or local centre use'. However Pat argues the building, which is sandwiched between two large residential homes, one of which was owned by the bank manager and is attached to it, is clearly suited to being residential and its location, set back from the road, is in fact not suited to retail. And she says a recent decision to introduce parking charges in the town centre makes it even less likely to attract a potential buyer. She said: "The council's decision to introduce parking meters in the town centre only serves to put retailers off investing in a new business. It has made it even less marketable." Architect Andrew Megginson has worked with Pat on designs for the building and says the council's position has been frustrating throughout. He said: "From the start officers have not been interested in any design and insist it has to be a commercial building, but I have photographs which show the land it is on used to be the conservatory of the house next door, it was residential in the past and should be again. "Looking up at the hall from the beach you can clearly see it would be a welcome addition to the line of residential homes it sits within. It is frustrating that planners cannot see its potential." The latest planning application is due to go before the council's Local Review Body next week in the latest appeal against officers refusal of plans for a domestic dwelling. Pat said: "If this fails I don't know what we will do. I spend £100 a month maintaining the gardens of the property and we have invested a lot to maintain and bring the hall itself into a maintained state but I can't go on with it forever."
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Author Dame Pat Barker thought honours letter was income tax bill
Author Pat Barker, known for The Regeneration Trilogy, thought the letter announcing her damehood in the King's Birthday Honours was an income tax bill and that HMRC were 'really angry'. Dame Pat, 82, became a CBE in 2000 and is being given her damehood, one of the highest honours in the United Kingdom, for services to literature. The Booker Prize winner has published 16 novels, diving into anti-war themes including trauma and memory. Describing the moment she received the news of her damehood, she said: 'I picked up the envelope from the carpet and the first thing I noticed, what beautiful quality paper it was, and I thought, this is either the income tax getting really angry, or it's something from the Palace or the Cabinet Office. 'Nobody else does that kind of quality of paper. I still sort of had to read the first paragraph several times before it sank in.' Her debut novel, Union Street, was published in 1982 and won her the 1983 Best Of Young British Novelists award. It was later made into the film, Stanley And Iris, starring Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro. She added: 'One of the things that, in spite of everything, I like about the British honour system is the way it records people who do very low profile, working for free, long hours, weeks, months, years, for something that they genuinely believe in and usually unpaid, and for the benefit of other people, and they are the bedrock of the honour system, and they actually are the reason why it is so respected, and knights and dames are just cherries on the top of that cake. 'I am happy to be a cherry.' The author is known for exploring the effects of war in her novels, attributing her grandfather and stepfather as inspiration for some of her most popular books. She said: 'I was very much a war baby. My Victory in Europe Day was my second birthday, and I thought the street parties were for me, as any two year old would. 'I think in my family, there were people who bore the very visible mental and physical injuries of war. 'My stepfather, for example, was in the trenches at 15, my grandfather had a bayonet wound, and he used to get stripped off at the kitchen sink, and the bayonet wound was terrible, very obvious, and he never talked about it. So you've got the two things there that are essential for writers, a story that is obviously present, but which isn't being told. 'The last thing any writer needs is a completed story. What you need as a writer is a mystery. And I had that.' She began writing the Regeneration trilogy in 1991 with the first book following English Lieutenant Billy Prior as he is being treated for shellshock. The book was adapted into a film in 1997 which starred The Two Popes actor Jonathan Pryce and Maurice's James Wilby. In 1993, Dame Pat published the second book in the trilogy, The Eye In The Door, which follows William Rivers, the psychiatrist treating Prior at Craiglockhart Hospital in Edinburgh. She was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize that same year and in 1995 won the Booker Prize for Fiction for The Ghost Road, the third book in the trilogy, which recounts the final months of the war from alternating perspectives of Billy, as he is about to rejoin the war, and William, who grapples with the work he has done to help injured men at the hospital. More recently, the novelist was shortlisted for The Women's Prize For Fiction in 2019 for her book, The Silence Of The Girls, part of The Woman Of Troy trilogy, which recounts the lives of women living through the Trojan War. It is followed by The Women Of Troy (2021) and The Voyage Home (2024), and sees the author shift her storytelling both in its genre, from historical fiction to myth, and characters, writing from the perspective of women instead of men. She said: 'I was wanting to deal with the experience of women, and specifically with rape as a weapon of war, because that is really what the Trojan trilogy, as it is at the moment, is about and that is also a very up to date, modern area of political and legal debate, making rape a war crime similar and equal to other war crimes. 'I think that is a battle that is still being fought for women in lots of ways. And that shadows the subsequent lives of women, but also of their children, who are very often the product of rape, and that is difficult for the woman and the child and the community that the woman comes from. 'So it seems as if it's thousands of years ago but actually myth isn't thousands of years ago. Myth is applicable to our lives today, and that's always what I want to bring out.' Dame Pat was born in Thornaby-on-Tees, Cleveland, and raised mainly by her grandparents. She began her writing career in her late 30s after studying international history at the London School of Economics and taught history and politics at colleges of further education until 1982.
ITV News
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- ITV News
Author Dame Pat Barker thought honours letter was income tax bill
Author Pat Barker, known for The Regeneration Trilogy, thought the letter announcing her damehood in the King's Birthday Honours was an income tax bill and that HMRC were 'really angry'. Dame Pat, 82, became a CBE in 2000 and is being given her damehood, one of the highest honours in the United Kingdom, for services to literature. The Booker Prize winner has published 16 novels, diving into anti-war themes including trauma and memory. Describing the moment she received the news of her damehood, she said: 'I picked up the envelope from the carpet and the first thing I noticed, what beautiful quality paper it was, and I thought, this is either the income tax getting really angry, or it's something from the Palace or the Cabinet Office. 'Nobody else does that kind of quality of paper. I still sort of had to read the first paragraph several times before it sank in.' Her debut novel, Union Street, was published in 1982 and won her the 1983 Best Of Young British Novelists award. It was later made into the film, Stanley And Iris, starring Jane Fonda and Robert De Niro. She added: 'One of the things that, in spite of everything, I like about the British honour system is the way it records people who do very low profile, working for free, long hours, weeks, months, years, for something that they genuinely believe in and usually unpaid, and for the benefit of other people, and they are the bedrock of the honour system, and they actually are the reason why it is so respected, and knights and dames are just cherries on the top of that cake. 'I am happy to be a cherry.' The author is known for exploring the effects of war in her novels, attributing her grandfather and stepfather as inspiration for some of her most popular books. She said: 'I was very much a war baby. My Victory in Europe Day was my second birthday, and I thought the street parties were for me, as any two year old would. 'I think in my family, there were people who bore the very visible mental and physical injuries of war. 'My stepfather, for example, was in the trenches at 15, my grandfather had a bayonet wound, and he used to get stripped off at the kitchen sink, and the bayonet wound was terrible, very obvious, and he never talked about it. So you've got the two things there that are essential for writers, a story that is obviously present, but which isn't being told. 'The last thing any writer needs is a completed story. What you need as a writer is a mystery. And I had that.' She began writing the Regeneration trilogy in 1991 with the first book following English Lieutenant Billy Prior as he is being treated for shellshock. The book was adapted into a film in 1997 which starred The Two Popes actor Jonathan Pryce and Maurice's James Wilby. In 1993, Dame Pat published the second book in the trilogy, The Eye In The Door, which follows William Rivers, the psychiatrist treating Prior at Craiglockhart Hospital in Edinburgh. She was awarded the Guardian Fiction Prize that same year and in 1995 won the Booker Prize for Fiction for The Ghost Road, the third book in the trilogy, which recounts the final months of the war from alternating perspectives of Billy, as he is about to rejoin the war, and William, who grapples with the work he has done to help injured men at the hospital. More recently, the novelist was shortlisted for The Women's Prize For Fiction in 2019 for her book, The Silence Of The Girls, part of The Woman Of Troy trilogy, which recounts the lives of women living through the Trojan War. It is followed by The Women Of Troy (2021) and The Voyage Home (2024), and sees the author shift her storytelling both in its genre, from historical fiction to myth, and characters, writing from the perspective of women instead of men. She said: 'I was wanting to deal with the experience of women, and specifically with rape as a weapon of war, because that is really what the Trojan trilogy, as it is at the moment, is about and that is also a very up to date, modern area of political and legal debate, making rape a war crime similar and equal to other war crimes. 'I think that is a battle that is still being fought for women in lots of ways. And that shadows the subsequent lives of women, but also of their children, who are very often the product of rape, and that is difficult for the woman and the child and the community that the woman comes from. 'So it seems as if it's thousands of years ago but actually myth isn't thousands of years ago. Myth is applicable to our lives today, and that's always what I want to bring out.' Dame Pat was born in Thornaby-on-Tees, Cleveland, and raised mainly by her grandparents. She began her writing career in her late 30s after studying international history at the London School of Economics and taught history and politics at colleges of further education until 1982.
Edinburgh Reporter
13-06-2025
- Business
- Edinburgh Reporter
Gran says council has robbed husband of final years joy
A grandmother says East Lothian Council has robbed her husband of spending his final years in their dream home after they spent over half a million pounds buying an empty building. Pat Sharp and her husband Nigel bought the former bank building on Westgate, North Berwick, seven years ago after it was put on the market by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Despite it not having planning permission to be converted into a house, the Edinburgh couple paid more than double the £250,000 asking price, and Pat says they still only narrowly outbid other interested parties. But they have been left with a derelict building after planners repeatedly rejected applications to turn it into a home insisting it was a commercial building which was needed in the popular town centre. The single story bank building is seen from the beach sandwiched between residential homes pic contributor Historic pictures of Park House, where vacant bank building is shows it used to be a conservatory attached to residential house pic staff Bay window in vacant bank building and original cornicing pic staff Pat says the couple had originally bought an upstairs flat in North Berwick to bring their grandchildren and build precious memories. After Nigel, retired from his job as a managing director of an international company however, he was diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease. She said: 'Our daughter Cheryl passed away after being diagnosed with CUP (Cancer of Unknown Primary) when the girls were very young and made us promise not to just buy them things but to build memories with them and given them precious experiences. 'I don't know why we thought of North Berwick but we did and it was a favourite place for the girls and us when they were young. When I saw the bank hall was for sale I thought it would be perfect for our retirement and Nigel, who could no longer cope with the stairs in the flat.' Sadly for Pat and Nigel, who is 78, his condition has now deteriorated to the point he has had to move into a care home to receive the support he needs. Pat said: 'He has been robbed of the chance to spend his final years in what we wanted to be our dream home, looking out over the North Berwick coast and remembering all our wonderful times here. it is devastating.' Planners have rejected several application to turn the building into a home and dismissed claims by Pat and her team that attempts to sell it as a commercial venture have been unsuccessful after describing the £595,000 price tag put on it as 'excessive'. Pat says attempts have been made to try and sell the building for commercial purposes with plans to convert it into a cafe approve by the council at one stage, but nothing has worked so far. Rejecting plans to turn it into a home planners ruled it would be a 'loss of a ground floor Class 1A commercial premises within North Berwick Town Centre where there is no evidence that the premises is no longer viable as a town or local centre use'. However Pat argues the building, which is sandwiched between two large residential homes, one of which was owned by the bank manager and is attached to it, is clearly suited to being residential and its location, set back from the road, is not suited to retail. And she says a recent decision to introduce parking charges in the town centre makes it even less likely to attract a buyer. She said: 'The council's decision to introduce parking meters in the town centre only serves to put retailers off investing in a new business. It has made it even less marketable.' Architect Andrew Megginson has worked with Pat on designs for the building and says the council's position has been frustrating and entrenched. He said: 'From the start officers have not been interested in any design and insist it has to be a commercial building, but I have photographs which show the land it is on used to be the conservatory of the house next door, it was residential in the past and should be again. 'Looking up at the hall from the beach you can clearly see it would be a welcome addition to the line of residential homes it sits within. It is frustrating that planners cannot see its potential.' The latest planning application is due to go before the council's Local Review Body next week in the latest appeal against officers refusal of plans for a house. Pat said: 'If this fails I don't know what we will do. I spend £100 a month maintaining the gardens of the property and we have invested a lot to maintain and bring the hall itself into a maintained state but I can't go on with it forever.' By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter Like this: Like Related
Edinburgh Live
13-06-2025
- Business
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh gran says planners have robbed her husband of final years in dream home
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A grandmother says East Lothian Council has robbed her husband of spending his final years in their dream home after they spent over half a million pounds buying an empty building. Pat Sharp and her husband Nigel bought the former bank building on Westgate, North Berwick, seven years ago after it was put on the market by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Despite it not having planning permission to be converted into a house, the Edinburgh couple paid more than double the £250,000 asking price, and Pat says they still only narrowly outbid other interested parties. But they have been left with a derelict building after planners repeatedly rejected applications to turn it into a home insisting it was a commercial building which was needed in the popular town centre. Pat says the couple had originally bought an upstairs flat in North Berwick to bring their grandchildren and build precious memories. After Nigel, retired from his job as a managing director of an international company however, he was diagnosed with Parkinsons Disease. She said: "Our daughter Cheryl passed away after being diagnosed with CUP (Cancer of Unknown Primary) when the girls were very young and made us promise not to just buy them things but to build memories with them and given them precious experiences. "I don't know why we thought of North Berwick but we did and it was a favourite place for the girls and us when they were young. When I saw the bank hall was for sale I thought it would be perfect for our retirement and Nigel, who could no longer cope with the stairs in the flat." Sadly for Pat and Nigel, who is 78, his condition has now deteriorated to the point he has had to move into a care home to receive the support he needs. Pat said: "He has been robbed of the chance to spend his final years in what we wanted to be our dream home, looking out over the North Berwick coast and remembering all our wonderful times here. it is devastating." Planners have rejected several application to turn the building into a home and dismissed claims by Pat and her team that attempts to sell it as a commercial venture have been unsuccessful after describing the £595,000 price tag put on it as "excessive". Pat says attempts have been made to try and sell the building for commercial purposes with plans to convert it into a cafe approve by the council at one stage, but nothing has worked so far. Rejecting plans to turn it into a home planners ruled it would be a "loss of a ground floor Class 1A commercial premises within North Berwick Town Centre where there is no evidence that the premises is no longer viable as a town or local centre use'. However Pat argues the building, which is sandwiched between two large residential homes, one of which was owned by the bank manager and is attached to it, is clearly suited to being residential and its location, set back from the road, is not suited to retail. And she says a recent decision to introduce parking charges in the town centre makes it even less likely to attract a buyer. She said: "The council's decision to introduce parking meters in the town centre only serves to put retailers off investing in a new business. It has made it even less marketable." Architect Andrew Megginson has worked with Pat on designs for the building and says the council's position has been frustrating and entrenched. He said: "From the start officers have not been interested in any design and insist it has to be a commercial building, but I have photographs which show the land it is on used to be the conservatory of the house next door, it was residential in the past and should be again. "Looking up at the hall from the beach you can clearly see it would be a welcome addition to the line of residential homes it sits within. It is frustrating that planners cannot see its potential." The latest planning application is due to go before the council's Local Review Body next week in the latest appeal against officers refusal of plans for a house. Pat said: "If this fails I don't know what we will do. I spend £100 a month maintaining the gardens of the property and we have invested a lot to maintain and bring the hall itself into a maintained state but I can't go on with it forever."
