Developers behind a long-dormant bid to revive Count Dracula’s north-east home are under fresh pressure to make progress with the development.
Planning permission to convert Slains Castle at Cruden Bay into a series of holiday flats was secured in 2007.
The Edinburgh-based Slains Partnership, which is behind the controversial scheme, won consent despite outrage from locals and Dracula fans who argued the clifftop fortress should be preserved as ruin.
However, the plan was also supported by many people who said that if no work was carried out soon, the castle could be left to crumble into the sea.
The fortress was a major inspiration for author Bram Stoker who visited it during his regular holidays on the Buchan coast.
Last year, the Press and Journal revealed that the Slains Partnership had been allowed another decade to work on its follow-up planning application, which will need to be approved before any work can begin.
Slains Castle, which is on Scotland’s Buildings at Risk register, was previously home to the Earls of Erroll, heads of the Clan Hay, before it was sold in 1916.
Its roof was removed nine years later.
Yesterday, Merlin Hay, the 24th Earl of Erroll, threw his weight behind the campaign to save his ancestral seat.
He said: “If something doesn’t happen soon, the castle will crumble.
“The weather – and up there it’s harsh – will mean we’ll end up with little more than a pile of stones.”
The Lord High Constable of Scotland added: “I know some people would rather it was kept as a ruin. However, sympathetically restoring and reusing the castle is its best chance of long-term survival.
“It would be wonderful if they could rebuild the original building.”
No one from the elusive partnership could be reached for comment last night.
Douglas Forrest, of Acanthus Architects, who was commissioned to design the redevelopment, said he had not heard from anyone from the firm for more than a year.
The £6million restoration project involves turning the ruin into 35 holiday apartments. It was first unveiled to the public 10 years ago.