A family of travellers face being evicted from their homes a week before Christmas after councillors rejected their plans for a campsite in Buchan.
The decision was made on the same day proposals for a separate gypsy-travellers encampment at St Cyrus were approved.
The Collins family – who own a home at Springhill in Boddam – near Peterhead – have now taken their fight to the Scottish Government.
They created a four-pitch caravan park on their property earlier this year, but were told to clear it after the local authority ruled it was damaging the surrounding area.
Alan Seath, who is representing the travellers in their plea to the government’s planning and environment appeals division, said last night, he said: “The enforcement notice would have kicked in today and told the family to vacate the site within 20 weeks – a week before Christmas.
“The purpose of this appeal is to ask the Scottish Government to re-examine the case, and we now await their response.”
The Collins family had initially asked the council to allow them to use the site for 12 months to prove that it could be a success.
Aberdeenshire Council’s own planning service had backed the scheme, but it was rejected by the both the local authority’s Buchan area committee and the full council.
At the time, Buchan councillor Alan Gardiner branded the application a “disaster”.
“There is no way we can police this,” he said.
The family has lodged their appeal following revelations the council is preparing to extend a conservation zone into a site once mooted as a potential traveller camp.
The plans for Aikey Brae at Old Deer have been on the table for years despite local opposition, but conservation area regulations could mean the cost of creating a halting would escalate dramatically.
Allan Hendry, the chairman of the council’s gypsy-traveller sub-committee, said the local authority should be doing more to support the travelling community.
“We have tried our best through our sub-committee to do that,” he added.
“We identified various sites but each time it comes to full council they get voted down.
“The only one pending now is Aikey Brae, and it will depend on the conservation officer if it will have any impact on the conservation area.”
