Controversial St Cyrus Travellers’ site application to go before councillors - Aberdeenshire

From the Courier

One of the most controversial issues to hit the Mearns/Angus border in years is finally due to come before councillors.

Almost six months have passed since a group of Travellers set up a new home for themselves without notice on a patch of land near St Cyrus Nature Reserve.

Building work to create a 10-stance permanent caravan park and a turning/wash station for Travelling families was carried out without planning permission over three months, leaving the local community shocked and enraged at perceived local authority inaction.

Aberdeenshire Council moved against the site with planning enforcement and court interdicts, the proceedings of which have ambled on through the corridors of the council and Stonehaven Sheriff Court since October.

Now, after months of waiting, objectors and supporters of the controversial site will finally get to hear local councillors air their views on the two planning applications linked to the encampment when the topic comes before the Kincardine and Mearns area committee on March 25.

The meeting was initially scheduled for March 4, but was pushed back for further flooding investigations at the site.

One local resident said she was “completely baffled” that it had taken so long for the applications to come before the council.

The homeowner, who asked not to be named, said: “I’m disappointed that it has been pushed back another three weeks as that will be a whole six months since it all started.

“Would anyone else have been given six months’ time before it came up?

“I’m completely baffled how much consideration has been given to it as I feel that if I were to start building a bungalow in my back garden, I wouldn’t be given that amount of time.”

Councillor George Carr said that due process was paramount for the council throughout the whole situation.

“This is a retrospective planning application and it will be dealt with fairly and objectively,” said Mr Carr.

“It has taken a fair bit of time to get responses and it will be important to make sure we have all the information in front of us. Due process does take time and quite a number of consultees were involved in this.

“Our officers have a job to do and make sure they get all the facts. We would be equally criticised if we didn’t act professionally and investigate properly.

“The papers we have at the council meetings are always high quality and that’s down to the diligence of the officers and council agents, and we have to give them credit for that.”

In a quirk of procedural timing, the meeting is scheduled to take place in the same week that the first pieces of evidence will be led in the court case linked to the site.

Aberdeenshire Council successfully applied for an interdict against Traveller James McCallum, the lead applicant on the application for building works at site and landowner according to the planning application, to prohibit work there.

Mr McCallum denies a breach of that interdict and that he is the landowner and the court battle will begin in earnest on the week beginning March 24.

St Cyrus Community Council chairman Eric Herd said the community will be “curious” to see how each scenario plays out at council and court level.

“We knew that this would have been decided at some stage and would probably come before the committee, but we have not discussed it outwith the remit of the planning applications,” said Mr Herd.

“We are just waiting to see what the local authority does.”