A Garioch community fighting to defend themselves from future floods will be given protection in the coming months.
Residents of Kembhill Park, in Kemnay, have reached an agreement with Aberdeenshire Council to protect their homes using temporary flood barriers.
More than 60 properties in Kemnay flooded when the Don broke its banks on January 7, 2016 – roughly 20 of them in Kembhill Park.
The village was not included in the local authority’s north-east local flood risk management strategy for 2016 to 2022.
Residents had hoped that a bund, which stops at a local pumping station, could be extended along the River Don – but have now been told no permanent work will happen until a full flood risk assessment is carried out.
However, now the council has agreed to fund a Water-Gate barrier at the Kembhill Park bund, which would plug up the defence in the event of a future flood. The devices use the weight of the water to hold it back.
They would be stored nearby and taken out by locals should a flood warning ever be issued for Kemnay.
Residents are also calling for the village to be designated as a potentially vulnerable area (PVA) by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), which they hope will allow for a permanent defence to be built.
Last night Ken Ledingham, chairman of the Kembhill Park Flood Group, said they had been informed no permanent work to the bund could proceed until a full flood risk assessment is carried out along the Don.
He added: “The council came up with the idea of a temporary barrier that would go around the problems. It would join up the two earth bunds we have. They are fairly easy to haul and deploy.
“We are very grateful to the council for coming up with this idea. We’d much prefer to have had a permanent barrier built.
We are still pursing that idea with them.”
A Sepa spokesman said not being designated as a PVA is no barrier to any proposals for permanent, flood defences in Kemnay.
A report going before a meeting of the council’s Garioch area committee next week said: “Following liaison with the Kembhill Park Flood Defence and Resilience Group, we have procured a Water-Gate temporary flood barrier that can be deployed if flooding is expected. We expect deliver of this in the next few months.”
Volunteers willing to help deploy the Water-Gate in the event of a future flood are now being sought by the group, along with people keen to help craft a local resilience plan.