Council chiefs have been accused of not acting quickly enough to safeguard a coastal town from flooding.
Aberdeenshire’s head of Roads and Landscape Services, Philip McKay, gave the Press and Journal an assurance last week that shingle management work at Stonehaven would begin later this month.
The project aims to prevent a build-up of sediment, meaning the sea-wall should act as a stronger defence against any repeat of the high waves which hit the town earlier in the week.
The resulting flooding damaged businesses and homes on the town’s seafront and led to the evacuation of ground-floor residents from the Turners Court sheltered housing complex.
However, a leading member of the Stonehaven Flood Action Group (SFAG) has claimed the council should have taken action months ago to protect properties.
Christopher Anstock, chairman of the group’s coastal flooding group sub-committee, said: “The council has assured us the shingle management work would be done.
“There have been repeated requests and we had been assured it would be carried out after the summer school holidays.
“I don’t think the council should underestimate the strength of feeling in the town about this matter.”
Mr Anstock, together with other members of the group, has now called a public meeting for October 21.
He continued: “We’re going to up the pressure a little bit and decided to call the meeting so we can discuss the issue.
“The council are invited, and so is anyone who was affected by the flooding in 2012 or this year.
“This has been raised time and time again and nothing has been done.”
A spokesman for the council reiterated that work would be underway before the end of this month.
He said: “In order to carry out the work we need to close the beach so it was decided to leave the work until after the summer holidays as lots of people use the beach during the summer. The work will be carried out in the next few weeks.”
The public meeting will take place in the Invercarron Resource Centre and starts at 7pm.