CONTROVERSIAL plans to convert a historic rural pub into a private house have been thrown out by councillors.
The future of the Midmar Inn, on the B9119, near Echt, has been the subject of a long-running battle between the owners who closed it last year and local residents who want it to stay open.
Owners David Cooper and Debi Begg closed the pub in September blaming declining trade.
Residents keen to see the ex-drovers’ inn remain open formed the Midmar Inn Community Company.
Scottish ministers awarded them the right to buy under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 earlier this year, giving them the first option if the owners put it on the market.
The group claims the landmark building should be sold as a going concern and there were already buyers willing to take it over.
Mr Cooper refuses to sell but told councillors that the property’s condition was deteriorating and they are facing a second winter without heating. He said the Friends group had waged a “personal vendetta” against his family.
The issue split members of Garioch area committee at a meeting yesterday.
Some expressed sympathy with the owners’ desire to remain in the property while others questioned why the business was not sold when it showed signs of making a loss.
Committee chairman councillor Martin Kitts-Hayes said: “This is first and foremost a business in the countryside and this is what we need to protect as councillors.
“The home is attached to the business. That perhaps sounds harsh but that is the reality of business life.”
Westhill councillor Amanda Allan said: “I do have a great deal of sympathy with the applicants.
“The pub trade is one of the most difficult businesses in the world. It is a lot of hard work with very little return.”
By a margin of one vote councillors rejected the application as against planning policy to retain businesses in the countryside.
Mr Cooper vowed to lodge an appeal with the Scottish Government.
“It’s my home and I will be staying there,” he said.
“I am going to be taking legal advice about me being forced to live in a less than desirable home because the planning committee won’t approve for me to make changes.”
Friends spokesman David Smith said the inn formed the “centre of community life”.
“We are obviously very pleased that it’s been rejected,” he said.
“We sympathise with them continuing to live in the property but it was bought as a business.”
He said the Friends would be trying to open up a dialogue with Mr Smith about buying the property.