River clean-up to help ease flooding danger

Monitoring the shingle bank at Kingston.

LONG-AWAITED work to remove debris from the River Spey looks likely to finally go ahead.

Residents at Garmouth and Kingston have spent more than three decades campaigning for remedial work on the river in the belief it could alleviate flooding of homes and businesses.

Locals again advocated clearing shingle from the river after major flood works were ruled out in 2010 when officials said the business case did not stack up.

Now, ‘constructive talks’ between locals, elected members, council officials, and the agencies involved – Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Natural Heritage and the Crown Estate – have brought fresh hope to those impacted by the flooding blight.

Convener of Moray Council, George McIntyre, who chaired the meeting, said an agreement was made to look at interim works at the mouth of the river.

Officials will meet on site to determine an action plan, licensing arrangements and costs prior to reporting back to the authority’s economic development and infrastructure services committee on March 13, he said.

“We were meeting to see how we can take forward some of the flooding issues associated with the River Spey and it was agreed that debris could be cleared from near the mouth of the Spey. There are various trees and a build-up of debris around the trees, certainly by the viaduct area,” he said.

“This is something that local residents have been calling for for some time. We appreciate the River Spey is an area of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), but the powers that be have now agreed that we can clear this debris and there is a site meeting next week to decide when this can happen and how it will happen.

“Now that we have reached agreement, I hope the agencies will continue to work together to develop a longer term solution to serve the communities of Garmouth and Kingston.”

Fellow Fochabers Lhanbryde members, Douglas Ross and Anita McDonald, welcomed the leap forward.

“This is one of the more constructive meetings I’ve attended to discuss the situation at Garmouth and Kingston and Iain Green, representing the Speymouth Action Group, put the two community’s points across very well. I am pleased we have set a very tight timescale to have a site visit, discuss with contractors what can be done and establish costs to remove significant debris from the river which then collect shingle and no doubt exacerbate the problems when the river is high or there is a spate,” said Councillor Ross.

An emergency motion was presented by the local councillors to a full meeting of the Moray Council and given unanimous backing.

It asked that the authority agree in principal to engage in meetings and site visits over the next month in order to bring forward a plan to the next meeting of the council’s economic development, infrastructure, and policy and resources committees. A schedule of works to remove the debris was also called for, with associated costs.

“These actions have long been called for by the local community and should alleviate some of the problems of flooding in Garmouth and the associated risks in Kingston,” Councillor Ross added. Councillor McDonald said such measures would “at long last” bring relief to the people living in the villages.

“I am just sorry that it has taken two years since we held public meetings, and the people in these two communities have felt abandoned,” she said.

“This will allow people to sleep peacefully without the threat of flooding once again.”