The appeal by a group of environmental bodies failed in the courts system twice before the appellants appealed to the UK Supreme Court in 2013, where a hearing date had yet to be set.

Landowners Rothiemurchus Estate are behind the plans for a village of eco-friendly houses at An Camas Mòr, on a banks of the River Spey. It would be the first new settlement to be built in a UK national park.

Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) first approved the proposal, which would see the first new community built in a UK national park, in June 2010.

The group behind the action – the Cairngorms Campaign, the Scottish Campaign for National Parks and the Badenoch & Strathspey Conservation Group – have decided not to proceed any further with their appeal and have paid £38,000 towards costs for CNPA.

Gus Jones, convener of the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group, said: “The reason for our challenge terminating at this stage is because the Supreme Court refused to limit our liability to the CNPA’s legal costs.

“No charity could proceed on the basis of unknown costs.

“The incredible level of public support we have received demonstrates the deep and far-reaching public concern that exists about the Park Authority’s unsustainable and developer-driven approach to planning taken in their Local Plan, which threatens the natural heritage that the Park was set up to protect.”

CNPA chief executive Grant Moir welcomed the news: “The CNPA has been able to recoup £38,000 from the appellants for this lengthy legal challenge to the Local Plan. The appellants were granted protection on liabilities for expenses from the Courts and so a considerable expense to the taxpayer could not be recouped.

“The first Local Plan for the Cairngorms National Park had been through a thorough consultation process as well as a Public Local Inquiry before being adopted in October 2010. Two court judgements already resulted in the appellant’s arguments being rejected so we were understandably extremely disappointed by them appealing to the UK Supreme Court.

“I am obviously delighted that this is now the end of the matter but disappointed that it was not brought to an end sooner. The significant legal fees are not the only issue; we’ve invested a considerable amount of staff time and energy defending the appeal over the last few years. It’s frustrating to think that this is time and money that would have been better targeted towards conservation projects in the Cairngorms National Park.”

The Cairngorms National Park Local Plan which was the subject of the legal challenge has now been replaced by the new Local Development Plan which was adopted earlier this year.