Area Committee to Comment on Sea Walls

News
By Jane Cruickshank / November 18, 2019
View of St Mary of the Storms graveyard taken from slopes of golf course, looking beyond to stormy rolling waves

COASTAL flood protection works for Stonehaven costed at £22.7 million go before the Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee on Tuesday for consideration and comment.

Raising our sea walls is the preferred option to protect the town – following a coastal flood risk study and two public consultation sessions.

The proposals came before Councillors at their last meeting on October 29, when they requested a site visit.

This took place on November 5 – an opportunity to consider, in situ, the many representations from residents against the proposals, whilst having officers and consultants on hand to answer their questions.

The strategy for Stonehaven’s sea defence as described in the committee paper is:

• North Zone – Improve the existing defences (raise existing wall) immediately and adapt to a new sea wall when the residual life is exceeded

• Central Zone – Raise existing wall and implement an adaptive beach recharge scheme immediately and replace (River) Cowie defences in year 30

• Harbour Zone – Manage the medium-term risk through Property Flood Resilience (achieved through Property Level Protection products) and construct new defences when the residual life of the current defences is exceeded (year 30).

Bid for Government Funds – ‘highly competitive’

Comments made tomorrow by our Area Committee will go forward to the Infrastructure Services Committee which meets on November 28.

Assuming they give the scheme the nod, the preferred option will be referred to SEPA, who are prioritising Scotland’s flood defence spending in what is described as a highly competitive process, and who will make recommendations to the Scottish Governement.

Back in 2016 Council leaders and Scottish Government ministers committed £420 million of funding over the next 10 years to flood protection schemes.

The Kincardine and Mearns Area Committee meets tomorrow, Tuesday November 19 at 10am in Committee Room 1, Woodhill House, Westburn Road, Aberdeen. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

The committee papers with the attached report is available online

Watered-down Sea Defence Proposals At Area Committee?

Ali Brown - November 18, 2019

I can’t understand why the comments of people in the know I.e.
Locals aren’t taken into more consideration. The clearing of the shingle banks used to be cleared every Autumn in anticipation of winter storms, this of course was when the town had its own council. Unfortunately now decisions are made by people who some have probably never seen the beach. Why should some of the residents along the shore be subjected to losing their lovely views with a raised wall? Would it not be worth at least discussing the option of getting in bulldozers and clearing the shingle and bringing
back the promenade wall to what it was built for. Unfortunately it seems Aberdeenshire council have a final say rather than the good old days when we had the good old Stonehaven Council and we were part of Kincardineshire.

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