Network Rail object to plan to convert old Perthshire station signal box into "quirky" holiday home

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Network Rail have objected to a developer’s plans to transform an old railway station signal box in Perthshire - said to be the only one of its kind still in existence - into holiday accommodation.A company calling itself Murthly Signal Box Ltd, after the boarded-up B-listed building it wishes to renovate, applied to Perth and Kinross Council for consent to make the change two months ago.Glasgow-based architects Lucid Architecture told the local authority in a supporting statement their proposal involved turning the late 19th Century structure into “a small tourist letting unit” comprising a new bedroom or bed area, a small living area, a kitchen and a shower room.Their statement said: “The interior becomes a pleasant and quirky place for tourists to stay and experience the signal box and being near a railway line in the centre of a beautiful Perthshire village.”But Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust (PKHT) advised the council to add a negative suspensive condition to any consent given to the company to bring the unique building back into use obliging it to complete an archaeological standing building survey first.The body said in its comments on the application: “The proposed development site is considered to be archaeologically sensitive as it includes the alteration of a Grade B listed signal box which dates from the late 19th Century, built for the Highland Railway.“According to the monument record this signal box is a particularly interesting variation of the standard McKenzie and Holland Type 3 due to various additional architectural details.“This example is the only one of its type that remains in existence, the other three since lost.“Therefore, full retention of the historic fabric should be at the heart of any