Stonehaven flooding plans given green light by councillors

Plans for a flood protection scheme in an Aberdeenshire town were backed by councillors yesterday – paving the way for work to start in a matter of months.

Members of the local authority’s policy and resources committee agreed to progress with the Stonehaven project at an estimated cost of £15million.

The proposals were approved in principle at a meeting of the committee in September.

Mott MacDonald was last year granted the engineering contract for the works in the Mearns town – which has been badly hit by flooding over the past few years.

Between 2009-12 the River Carron burst its banks twice.

Aberdeenshire Council’s head of roads and landscape services, Philip McKay, said the delivery of the project was likely to be “contentious” within the “historic heart” of Stonehaven.

He added that objections to the scheme could be made before the development work started.