Councillors have accepted the fate of a popular Aberdeenshire restaurant and allowed it to be converted into homes.
Plans to use the Cammies restaurant building at Cammachmore near Newtonhill for affordable flats have finally been approved after spending almost a year in limbo.
The building will be transformed into a complex of seven, two-bedroom flats by Rocin Ltd.
The proposals were backed by the Kincardine and Mearns area committee in September.
But Aberdeenshire Council officials referred the decision to approve the development to the infrastructure services committees.
Although council planners said the scheme did not represent a “sensitive
restoration” of a vernacular building, they added it was an “improvement” on what already existed.
North Kincardine councillor Ian Mollison said: “This building has an original granite core in the middle of it, although it is very hard to spot it.
“I have lived there for 40 years and it has been a hotel there.
“It has been operating as a hotel for many decades. Now, it has unfortunately come to the end of that life.”
Council planning manager, Bruce Stewart, said: “It may be in the greenbelt and may not tick every single box but we have to look at the wider picture.
“Overall the design is an improvement on what exists. We are comfortable with it. It actually meets the criteria of the granite build policy.”
He added its architectural merit had been ruined by various extensions throughout the year.
The Kincardine and Mearns committee originally refused planning permission for the former family business, harbouring hopes it could reopen.
The restaurant and hotel closed its doors in May.