A bid to increase the size of a planned boutique hotel at a north-east Jack Nicklaus golf complex has been rejected.
Aberdeenshire Council in Scotland has quashed revised proposals for Ury House – which would have involved 35 rooms instead of just five.
The decision has been taken due to the development’s close proximity to BP’s Forties pipeline, sparking health and safety concerns.
It comes after the historic building was proposed as the centrepiece of the £80 million golf resort.
Under previously approved plans, developers were given permission for five bedrooms at the site but the firm decided it wanted to develop 35 bedrooms instead.
The Health and Safety Executive warned the council the 235-mile pipeline that links 85 oil and gas assets to the UK mainland and a processing plant in Grangemouth posed a “significant hazard” if more than 10 people stayed overnight at the hotel.
In a letter, the local authority’s chief planner Robert Gray said: “This proposal, for 35 bedrooms which could potentially be 70 people staying overnight, is too high a risk for the HSE to accept.
“From discussion with HSE the only real way to mitigate the risk is to divert the pipeline away from Ury House, or relay the pipeline in a much thicker pipe, neither of which is likely to be a viable solution.
“It would result in shutting down the entire pipeline for a period of time, and come at great cost.”
The revised application comes after the developer FM Group said it wanted to increase the number of hotel bedrooms because five was not good “economic use”.
In his letter, Mr Gray said the firm was trying to “maximise” the site’s tourism potential.
The renovation of B-listed Ury House is already under way.
Jonathon Milne, director of FM Group, said: “A five-bedroom hotel which we have consent for is not a good economic use of the building and it could be readily converted to a 35-room hotel as per the plans submitted with the only main obstacle being the BP Forties pipeline.”
He added: “We have asked BP if they would be willing to move the pipeline or indeed cap the entire pipeline in concrete.
“They have confirmed this would involve shutting down the pipeline for a period and that it would not be economically viable.”