A group of travellers who built themselves a caravan site without planning consent have been ordered to move out by next summer.
A group of families clubbed together to buy the land at North Esk Park, Northwater Bridge, to make a permanent halting site.
Work on the land, near St Cyrus National Reserve, began almost immediately after they arrived in September 2013, despite not having planning permission.
A lengthy legal battle ensued, and Aberdeenshire Council eventually gave retrospective permission for the site in 2016.
But the decision was called in by the Scottish Government, which has now ruled the group must be gone by July next year.
Reporter Rob Huntley said the development “conflicts with national policy on flooding”, and the travellers’ final chance of remaining at North Esk Park rests in an appeal to the Court of Session, which must be made within six weeks from now.
Scottish ministers said they “carefully considered” all the evidence presented by Mr Huntley and agreed with his conclusions and recommendations.
Sepa had previously confirmed the site had flooded in 2002, 2012, 2013 and in the aftermath of Storm Frank on December 30 2015, when residents had to leave their caravans because of rising water levels.
Site owner William McDonald previously denied that North Esk Park was a flood risk and said an independent report backed up that view.
He said the flood risk assessment carried out by environmental consultancy company SLR concluded that ‘the site does not lie within the functional floodplain and in terms of planning policy it is suitable for its current use as a caravan site’.