An Angus woman has been left distraught by a council decision ordering the removal of a residential caravan in her Sidlaws garden which is home to her disabled mother.
In a situation that has split Kirkton of Auchterhouse, Carina Roberts has been given six months to move the caravan by councillors who expressed sympathy with her plight but said they could not let it override planning policy.
On Tuesday night a tearful Mrs Roberts said she did not know where to turn after spending her savings on altering her home and the caravan in an effort to hold her family unit together.
Originally from Holland, she has been a resident of the Angus hamlet for almost a decade and was given the caravan last year after her disabled brother and 64-year-old mother Dina Lams came to live with her.
“We extended our house so my brother Zen could stay with us but he has never lived apart from my mother and she cannot get far without assistance so we could not leave her in Holland,” Mrs Roberts said. “We got the caravan and my mother stays there but comes over to our home for meals and showering facilities.”
She told a meeting of Angus Council’s development standards committee in Forfar that she had contacted the authority to ask about siting the caravan in the garden and was told it was OK. However, a planning application to link the caravan toilet to the house’s drainage system led to a refusal recommendation by officials and on Tuesday councillors agreed the set-up was a clear breach of policy that could not be ignored.
Auchterhouse Community Council also objected on the grounds of amenity impact and agreed with the council line that it could set an unacceptable precedent.
“I don’t know what to do and I do not know if we can appeal,” said Mrs Roberts, whose autistic son Harvey was five on Tuesday a day when she said there was little cause for celebration.
“We thought this was the best way to do things. All we wanted was to keep the family together, we are all about family and we just want to live quietly together.
“I don’t know what we will do. Will we have to put my mum on the couch, or would the council rather spend thousands of pounds rehousing people and giving them care?”
Councillors sympathised with the family’s situation and convener David Lumgair even led a failed bid to extend the caravan removal period to a year after the committee voted 7-3 to stick to the suggested six-month time limit.