Travellers have vowed to “fight on” after their bid to turn an unauthorised encampment next to a north-east coast beauty spot into a permanent fixture was rejected by councillors.
Residents of the camp, near the St Cyrus nature reserve, applied for retrospective planning permission from Aberdeenshire Council to create a permanent halting site.
However a year and a half on from when the camp first sprang up without consent the idea was rejected at a meeting of the full council.
The applicants camp residents James McCallum and William Docherty said they would be appealing to the Scottish Government to overturn the decision.
They are among a group of Travellers who banded together to buy the land in 2013. Known as North Esk Park, it is now understood to be home to about 120 people.
The residents had been seeking approval for a permanent eight-pitch caravan site, a road and recycling spot, as well as a toilet block, washroom, and pump station.
However, councillors said they had concerns about safety since the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) had labelled the site a flood risk.
An assessment had shown the area on a flood plain for the River North Esk was at risk of flooding every 200 years.
Sepa warned only two of the caravan stances would be above water if the site flooded again, as it had in 2013, and that it would be difficult for emergency vehicles to access.
The refusal, endorsed by planning officers, was passed by a vote of 42 to 20. There were two no votes.
Other factors included concerns about sewage run-off into the river and the potential for landslips.
Mearns councillor Bill Howatson said: “There is an accepted, established and proven need for Gypsy-Traveller sites not only in Kincardine and Mearns but in Aberdeenshire. But this is on a flood plain.
“This council shouldn’t in any way be party to a process where 120 fellow human beings are being encouraged to live on a site where there is a potential of flooding.”
Spokesman for the applicants, Alan Seath associate planning director at Edinburgh-based RPS Group insisted North Esk Park was serving a need locally.
He added: “If you refuse planning permission, Gypsy-Travellers will be put back on the road into unauthorised encampments.
“The council have the opportunity to approve the use of this site at no cost to the public purse.”
Following the meeting, he said: “We spoke to the clients and they will be proceeding with an appeal and putting that together. We have got a three-month period to do it.”