A community-spirited pensioner has attacked Aberdeenshire Council’s lack of action to prevent erosion and flooding of a north-east riverbank.
Retired farmer, Norman Fraser, 83, from Ellon has been carrying out routine maintenance on the riverbank next to the car park in the town centre for the last 17 years in his spare time and has voiced his concerns to the authority’s landscaping department.
Mr Fraser trims the verges and believes the lack of dredging along the Ythan is causing the river current to split in two when it hits a natural island in the middle of the river next to the town’s main bridge.
He said: “They need to dig away most of the middle island and deposit it on the far side of the bank.
“It also needs to be shored up over there with boulders to prevent it eroding anymore. The extra current forces more water over to the car park riverbank – the path has completely vanished – where fishermen used to be able to walk right along there.”
Discussing the possible return of the Ythan Raft Race, Mr Fraser described it as a “crazy idea” and added: “The folk getting in and out would just wreck the banking even more.
“I have already placed some large boulders on the car park side.”
Head of Roads, Landscape Services and Waste Management, Philip McKay said: “We are about to commission a flood study for Ellon which will consider natural flood management measures, along with traditional flood defences.
“The study will also look at property protection, with the final flood protection scheme expected to include a combination of measures to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to flood risk management.
“This will be a comprehensive piece of work and is due to be completed by the end of 2019, with the aim of including it in the next flood risk management planning cycle from 2022 to 2027.”
Councillor Gillian Owen praised Mr Fraser’s “fantascommunity spirit, but argued: “We all need to be pulling together.
“I can’t see the Ythan raft race coming back and I’m not sure the town can take many more events. We already have the Gig on the Brig and the Pedal Car Race – I think the health and safety involved in a raft race would be too much nowadays.”