WIDOW, 67, FACES EVICTION FROM HER KEMNAY CARAVAN
A Widow who lives in a caravan outside her daughter's house has been told she faces eviction by councillors who ruled the set-up breached planning regulations.
Maryjory Bruce, 67, has lived alone on land by the Aberdeenshire house since her terminally-ill husband, Eddie, died from emphysema in June last year.
She last night branded the decision as "ludicrous" and vowed to fight it.
Mrs Bruce claimed council officers had previously approved the living arrangements when the family moved to the area, near Kemnay, more than four years ago.
Planning permission - now lapsed - had been granted based on her late husband's medical needs. An application to extend permission for a further two years was submitted earlier this year.
But councillors on the Garioch area committee yesterday said emotional circumstances should not influence debate on planning issues and set the 12-month eviction deadline.
Mrs Bruce, who suffers from depression, said: "I can't believe this. I lived here for four-and-a-half years with no problem. What do they want me to do?"
She said there was now a medical case - which was detailed to the council - to support her continued use of the large caravan, at Bogfur, Kemnay.
"I'm not coming to terms with my husband's death at all well and had a letter about my own medical problems sent to the council," she said.
"They have mucked this up from the beginning - it's ludicrous. Perhaps they don't understand the way we want to live, but I need to be near my daughter. I also need privacy.
"We only moved here because we were told we could put the caravan in the garden. I understood that the extension was a formality. What do I do now? Are they going to re-house me? And where exactly will they put me?"
Daughter Jackie Mathers, 41, who lives just yards away with her husband and two children, was named as the applicant for a two-year extension plan, discussed at Inverurie yesterday.
She said Mrs Bruce did not want to become a burden on the state and added: "This is about family values. This is really affecting us all, especially as it comes around the anniversary of the death of my father."
The family's local councillor, Gurudeo Saluja, backed the extension plans at the Garioch area meeting and said: "There are very compelling reasons for this. She would become homeless if she wasn't allowed to stay there."
Concern was raised by other committee members, including councillor Martin Ford who said: "It does seem pretty awful to refuse this now, but it is a breach of policy."
He added: "I'm really worried about the precedent we're setting here, debating people's personal circumstances."
The committee raised concerns that a caravan might be unsuitable for an elderly woman with medical problems - a position denied by Mrs Bruce.
The decision will be advertised as a departure from council policy, giving the public further opportunities to comment.
-- Originally published in P&J
Eviction
You can't through the old women out because she has no where else 2 go and that is just a shame just let her grieve for her dead husband and you have no right because she is living on her daughters ground so please don't evict her plz