US owners of Balbegno Castle given go-ahead to carry out £1m revamp after council delay

The new American owners of Balbegno Castle near Fettercairn have been given the green light to carry out vital repair work at the historic building.

Chicago couple Caroline and Lee Betstill bought the A-listed structure last year after it was on the market with a selling price of £780,000.

They carried out essential repairs first before submitting plans worth more than £1 million to further improve the site after fearing it would fall into ruin.

The proposal sought permission to build new garden walls and a traditional greenhouse within the castle grounds too.

Turret space within Balbegno Castle. Fettercairn. LDRS

But as the duo hadn’t heard from Aberdeenshire Council planners after they visited the site in September, the duo made an appeal to the Scottish Government.

They hoped that doing this would help to move the application on and enable them to start the more extensive renovations.

However, no action was taken as they were told it would be a matter for the council to resolve.

The issue went before the local authority’s local review body earlier today.

Members were told that some works have already been carried out without permission.

This included the removal of a chimney deemed to be “in danger of collapse”, as well as a satellite dish and TV aerial.

Council planners believed that while some proposed work could be done with conditions, overall the project would have a “minimal” impact on the castle.

The project would include re-slating all roofs as well as repairing and replacing windows.

Meanwhile walls, floors and ceilings across the castle would need to be fully refurbished as they are in a state of “complete disrepair” due to flooding.

After discussions with the council, the Betsills axed plans to place rooflights on the castle towers, an EV charger and part of a proposed canopy.

However, the couple said they were happy to work with planners to resolve any issues.

Planning advisor Bruce Strachan revealed the delay in determining the application was due to the officer in charge being signed off sick.

He explained: “There’s quite a lot of proposed elements to this and it’s a listed building.

“It took some time to arrange a site visit, that took place in early September, and unfortunately after that the case officer was off for a period with illness so the application was unable to progress.”

However, he said the planning service would have granted planning permission if it had been able to.

After hearing about the plans, councillor Catherine Victor said she couldn’t see any reason to refuse the proposal.

“I think the owners have gone out of their way to make sure that they’re doing everything in in the right style for the building,” she stated.

Fellow councillor Isobel Davidson also welcomed the plans.

She said: “It’s fantastic to see someone investing in restoring a building like this.

“It’s brilliant they do work to restore it to what it was originally, and with a little bit of enhancement with the greenhouse which is completely appropriate.”

The review body went on to unanimously approve the proposal, meaning the castle transformation can now officially get underway.