The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Travellers win long fight to stay on site
Travellers have won their fight to stay on a site built without permission beside an internationally renowned nature reserve.
North Esk Park at St Cyrus has been at the centre of a planning battle since springing up virtually overnight without approval in September 2013.
The development was twice retrospectively approved by Aberdeenshire councillors before being called in by Holyrood over objections from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).
The agency said lives could be at risk from flooding from the River North Esk, which passes a few hundred yards away from the site on the Aberdeenshire and Angus border. But an appeal ruling gives North Esk Park families a ten-year temporary approval for the 20-stance development.
Scottish ministers said the flood risk and failure to comply with the local plan did not outweigh the impact to families if they were thrown off a site in an area with no other Gypsy/ Traveller provision.
Those living there have said the decision ends the uncertainty which has hung over families for the past eight years.
However, one local councillor has said the ruling has simply “kicked the can down the road”.
In newly-issued judgments, permissions were granted for the nine-stance touring site and 10-stance permanent site.
A physical hearing to consider the appeal arguments was scuppered by the pandemic and reporter Michael Shiel considered the online submissions of the parties.
Ministers said his recommendation that the developments should get a 15-year permission was too long and have put a tenyear condition in place.
The main issues in the appeal were striking the balance between the need for additional Gypsy/ Traveller provision in Aberdeenshire against the environmental effects of the development and the flood risk to the site.
North Esk Park sits beside the St Cyrus National Nature Reserve, which is part of the St Cyrus and Kinnaber Links Site of Special Scientific Interest. The findings said: “The reporter considers that Aberdeenshire Council has failed to provide suitable sites in South Aberdeenshire and the Gypsy/Travelling people community has made its own provision at this location.
‘‘There is a need for provision of facilities such as this in the Kincardine and Mearns area of Aberdeenshire, and granting planning permission helps meet that need.”
Mr Shiel was of the view that the development would have no adverse effects on natural heritage, including the adjacent SSSI. The previous appeal had brought a warning that the development’s location gave rise to “substantial risk to life and property” in the event flooding. The latest findings add: “There is no dispute between the parties that the site is predicted to be flooded by water from the North Esk by a 1-in-200-year event.’’
In a worst-case scenario that could mean flooding to just under half a metre.
Sepa aims to give a three-hour warning if the site is set to flood, and the reporter said the water velocity would be reduced from that of the river.
The findings add: “Scottish ministers accept the reporter’s conclusion that non-compliance with the development plan and the flood risk to the site is outweighed by the hardship that would be caused to the families living on the site that would result from the refusal of planning permission due to lack of available sites for the Gypsy/Travelling people community in South Aberdeenshire.”
The approvals include a requirement for a flood emergency evacuation plan to be drawn up within three months.
John Docherty, the owner of the halting site, said the decision ended the worry for families who had lived with the threat of eviction.
Mearns councillor George Carr branded the appeal outcome an “abdication of responsibility.”
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesperson said: “We note the decision of Scottish ministers on these called-in planning applications and will consider the findings and any actions going forward.”