AN MSP has described a bid by a group of travellers to make a massive illegal encampment permanent as “outrageous” – as nearby residents told of their “despair” over the site.
A group of travellers set up on land near St Cyrus, Aberdeenshire – close to a nearby nature reserve – in September 2013. After more than two years on the illegal site, features now include properly built roads and lighting, and the area is surrounded by a six-foot wall.
Despite being told to quit the site the group have applied for retrospective planning permission to make the site – dubbed North Esk Park – a permanent fixture.
That bid comes after a similar plan was rejected in April, and was yesterday described as “a means of manipulating the system to buy time”.
North East MSP Alex Johnstone said: “This situation is outrageous and has dragged on long enough, and it has made a complete mockery of the planning system.
“Retrospective planning permission is absolutely unacceptable in this case because it would simply set a precedent for similar incidents elsewhere.
“This fresh bid for planning permission strikes me as nothing more than a means of manipulating the system to buy time.
“The residents of this site may be calling it ‘North Esk Park’ but in reality it is a fenced-off illegal village thrown up without any regard for appropriate process.”
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