An elderly couple have been barred from moving into their dream home by council busybodies - despite having owned the property for seven years.
Nigel and Pat Sharp bought an empty Royal Bank of Scotland building on Westgate, North Berwick, for £550,000 in 2018, hoping to renovate the Victorian coastal property.
The Sharps then spent seven years attempting to convert it into their dream home, only to be blocked by East Lothian Council.
The couple have accused the local authority of "stonewalling" their efforts and wanting to build "more carbuncles" rather than allowing them to preserve the "architectural Victorian heritage of North Berwick".
Nigel and Pat Sharp have been barred from moving into their dream home (pictured) by council busybodies
And their struggle has taken a devastating toll, with 78-year-old Mr Sharp, who has Parkinson's disease, now living in residential care.
The couple paid more than double the £250,000 asking price to secure the property, which was sold without planning permission for residential conversion.
Mrs Sharp explained their renovation plans would make the home suitable for her husband's condition.
"I could turn the bank into a future proof home with a lift and easy wheelchair access," she told The Telegraph.
East Lothian Council, however, has consistently rejected their applications, maintaining the building must remain a commercial site due to short supply in the area.
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PICTURED: The empty RBS building in 2018, shortly before the Sharps bought it
The property's transformation would have provided the accessibility features Mr Sharp requires as his Parkinson's disease progresses.
And in a further blow to the couple, research into the property's history revealed it was originally residential.
Architect Andrew Megginson discovered an old photograph showing how the Victorian building, once called Park House, featured a garden, large conservatory, carriage house and garages.
"This makes it clear that what we now own was historically more than half residential," Mrs Sharp said.
"RBS retained the drawing room, and sold the remaining house to the bank manager, where his daughter and family lived."
Despite submitting house designs after receiving initial support from three councillors, the couple faced another rejection.
"Again, to our astonishment, they knocked it back," Mrs Sharp said.
The couple have requested meetings with East Lothian Council to find a solution
The council later approved planning permission for a cafe and two offices, but the couple claim there was little interest in either.
"We have demonstrated completely there is no appetite whatsoever for any commercial enterprise there - even less so with the new parking laws about to be inflicted on North Berwick," Mrs Sharp said.
The couple have requested meetings with the council to find a solution.
"We have always been respectful and polite in all our dealings with planners and councillors, despite long periods of being stonewalled by everyone," she jabbed.
Their final appeal will be heard by the Labour-run council's planning department in August.
A spokesman said "the applicant's agent, interested parties and consultees have all been contacted".
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