Residents’ anger over Traveller settlement - Aberdeenshire

From the Courier

Angry St Cyrus residents turned out in force last night to register their objections to a Travellers’ caravan site that has sprung up near a nature reserve.

Around 40 villagers attended the community
council meeting in St Cyrus public hall where many made their feelings clear on the situation currently developing in the area.

Building work started on a private plot of land at Nether Warburton near St Cyrus two weeks ago after several caravans and 
construction equipment arrived on site.

Within days, the land was levelled and the foundations of a new caravan site were laid.

All of this took place without planning permission from Aberdeenshire Council and the local authority became aware of the issue after receiving calls from concerned residents.

The council placed a temporary stop 
notice on the works and applied to Stonehaven Sheriff Court for an interim 
interdict.

Since then, an application for planning 
permission to build a 10-stance caravan park as a permanent halt for Gypsy/Travellers
has been submitted to the council by Mr James McCallum but the local authority
confirmed last night that it believes the notice to stop work has been breached and the 
occupiers of the land could now face legal or police action.

An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said: “The site at St Cyrus is not owned 
by the council and, as such, the remedies 
we have for removal of unauthorised Gypsy/Traveller encampments on council-
owned land are not available to us in this instance.”

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“We would provide assistance in the form of advice should the landowner wish to take such action, but no such request for assistance has been made.

“The council considers there has been a breach of planning legislation and is 
pursuing this.

“We have served a temporary stop notice and also commenced interdict proceedings at Stonehaven Sheriff Court.

“The council’s position is that the notice and interim interdict have not been complied with and we are considering lodging breach of interdict proceedings with the court and making a report to the procurator fiscal in respect of the breach of the temporary
stop notice.”

Four representations were submitted to the council against the application at the time of going to press and tensions ran high at the community council’s public meeting last night as residents appealed to the council
to make the Travellers stop their work.

Members of the community raised their concerns and fears over potential issues effecting flooding, road access, tourism and the environment at the plot of land, which is also a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest.

One member of the public, who told the meeting she lived near the site but asked not to be named, said: “On Friday work went on from 8.30am until 11.30pm and at that time the ground at my property was under water.

“I pay my council tax and I have planning permission for my property but I can’t do anything. The flooding has become worse so what am I going to do?

“Last year there were landslides from the bridge all the way to the road down the bank. That creates a health and safety risk for the people on that site now and the building works will compromise the cliff face.

“The main problem is where this site is, not who is on it. It doesn’t matter whether it’s you or me building a caravan site on it — it’s a bad idea.”

Aberdeenshire Council’s area manager
for Kincardine and the Mearns, William
Munro, described the situation as 
“difficult” but maintained that the 
council and its officers must follow 
procedure, despite the overwhelming 
public objection to the application and 
current set of circumstances.

“In order to strengthen the legal process
an application for an interim interdict 
was granted on September 26 to prevent further work and any further caravans 
being placed there,” said Mr Munro.

“However, work has continued and there are more caravans at the site. That’s a breach of interdict which is pretty serious business and we will be pursuing that.

“A valid planning application has now been lodged and it has to run through due process. If there are five valid objections or if the community council objects, it will come before councillors.”

The community council’s temporary
chairman, Chris Wark, cast a vote of 
members to gain an indication of the group’s stance on the application.

Five out of seven members present voted to object to the plans, with two registering no vote, and the council will meet again next week to agree its position and submit it to the local authority.

To view the planning application visit Aberdeenshire Council’s planning website and enter the reference number APP/2013/3099.