Hay bales could be rolled out as flood defences across Aberdeenshire following the tireless work of local farmers to protect their neighbours in one village.
Mearns councillor George Carr has paid tribute to the farmers of Fettercairn who have used their own stock to defend local properties from recent flooding.
Highlighting their work, Mr Carr questioned whether their example could be replicated and adopted in other communities across Aberdeenshire.
He referred to farmers who had pitched in to help the local authority clear roads following snowfall as an example of a model to follow.
The Parkview area and Burnside Road in Fettercairn, which neighbour the Cauldcots Burn, are both prone to flooding.
When the stream overflowed last July, bales of straw were placed in front of a number of Fettercairn homes to hold back flood waters.
The region was also hit by the deluge which followed Storm Frank.
Mr Carr called for a “mechanism for the council to embrace” using bales as flood defences following feedback from the Mearns Community Council.
He has also quizzed Aberdeenshire Council’s Kincardine and Mearns area manager, Willie Munro, about the possibility of farmers in Fettercairn – and others who might get on board – being reimbursed by the local authority for such work.
He said: “That is part of their flood resilience up there. It tends to flood quite regularly when the water levels are up. It is part of the system.
“It seems to be quite an effective flood control measure. Fettercairn has very much a tradition of helping each other out and has always had a community spirit and a can-do attitude.
“It is obviously an essential part of the provision of flood defence there. The community is indebted to them.”
Mr Munro responded: “I think what Fettercairn does is very important to defences. We have had quite a lot of liaison with them down the years.
“We did offer to provide them with barriers rather than these bales of hay. That was agreed, but a subsequent decision about this was reached where they continued to use bales. Certainly the offer was there.”
He described the issue of compensation as “complicated” but said: “We should encourage communities to work together and do these things for themselves”.
He concluded that Mr Carr’s points could be included into a future report on flooding.