A Mearns community council has been given a reprieve after it failed to respond to a publicly divisive planning application in time.
Aberdeenshire Council has confirmed that St Cyrus Community Council’s response to a planning application for a permanent Travellers’ site near the local nature reserve will be counted if it is sent in.
The community group had failed to respond to the retrospective application, despite a large turnout of disgruntled villagers to its October meeting expressing objections to the plans.
The group intended to reflect those feelings but failed to communicate that to the local authority.
However, it has been let off the hook after the council confirmed that the response would still be accepted.
A spokeswoman said: “The community council have yet to submit their response but their response will be accepted once received.”
Concerns were also raised at the meeting over what statutory consultees have been contacted by the applicant in relation to the site.
A local businessman suggested that the council’s planning process lacked consistency and he asked why certain bodies did not appear to have been consulted.
The council spokeswoman added that the type of organisations which are consulted depends on the nature of each individual application.
She also confirmed that, although elements of the development at the site near Nether Warburton Farm were in breach of planning controls, the retrospective planning application by the Travellers is seeking to address those contraventions.
The site has also been visited on a number of occasions by planning enforcement officers and the wheels are officially in motion between the council and Stonehaven Sheriff Court over breach of interim interdict proceedings.
The spokeswoman said: “The court fixes a hearing at which the person who is alleged to have breached the interdict is required to attend and say whether he does or does not admit the breach.
“If he does, the court can deal with him then. If he does not, a hearing would be fixed at which evidence would be led to establish whether or not there had been a breach.
“The sheriff would then make a decision and deal with the matter. The timescale for a hearing is a matter for the court.”