An elderly couple, Pat and Nigel Sharp, have won an eight-year planning dispute to convert a former Royal Bank of Scotland building in North Berwick, Scotland, into their retirement home — only to be forced to sell it now that permission has finally been granted. The case highlights how protracted planning processes can outlast the very circumstances they were meant to serve, leaving the couple with what has been described as a "hollow victory".

The Sharps bought the empty bank in Westgate for £550,000 eight years ago, hoping to create an accessible home for Nigel, 79, who has Parkinson's disease, and a lasting family legacy overlooking the coast. Their "exhausting" battle with East Lothian Council dragged on through repeated refusals, and although the conversion has now been approved, Nigel requires full-time care and the couple can no longer move in. Pat said her husband had been "robbed" of the chance to spend his final years in their dream home, stressing the project was never about money.