People in a village hit by flooding 11 times in a year are considering starting their own fundraising campaign to tackle the problem if Moray Council don’t step in to help.
Garmouth has experienced problems with flooding from the Spey for many years, but the number of events has increased rapidly because of erosion to the river bank.
The constant worry has led to homeowners working through the night with pumps and sandbags while some have bags packed in case they need to flee.
Innes Community Council secretary Jim Mackie believes Moray Council have been too slow to act.
He wants them to take a fresh look at geomorphologist Hamish Moir’s plan to tackle the problem.
Mr Moir, the managing director of Inverness-based cbec Eco Engineering, studied flooding concerns near Garmouth for 18 months and previously warned the “crisis point” could be near.
With council elections on the horizon, Mr Mackie also said they were considering making a fresh appeal for help to whoever will be calling the shots.
But if that fails, locals might be pushed to taking it completely into their own hands.
Mr Mackie said: “It wouldn’t hurt to apply to the Scottish Government for the money and it would mean it wouldn’t cost Moray Council any cash.
“If that doesn’t work, we will look at fundraising the costs for ourselves to solve the problem.”
What are the proposals?
Mr Moir has suggested that identifying locations to deposit gravel and fallen trees may help to steer the water away from Garmouth.
It is hoped that the proposals would guide the river eastwards away from Queenshaugh towards the original main channel on the east bank opposite Ross House.
Mr Mackie said: “There has been a lot of money wasted conducting surveys.
“We never got consulted about the council’s plans and we submitted Mr Moir’s plan to the council who refused to discuss it.
“They need to listen and solve this problem.”
Council say Dr Moir’s report was considered
In November, Moray councillors agreed prevention measures in principle costing up to £275,000.
Local representatives took forward two of six options put before them to stop flooding in the village.
The first part is to place a low-level rock armour bund at the disused railway embankment at a cost of up to £125,000.
In addition, planting willow and burying fallen trees with their root balls exposes on land between the river and the village will create a natural barrier when the river overtops.
This is expected to cost up to £150,000.
However, there is as yet no money set aside to finance the work.
A Moray Council spokeswoman refuted Mr Mackie’s claim that the proposal by Hamish Moir was not discussed.
She said: “Officers were asked by councillors to present options to reduce the frequency of flooding in Garmouth, and to undertake a review of the proposal put forward by Innes Community Council – which was developed by Dr Hamish Moir of Cbec.
“At a meeting on November 30 both the options to reduce the frequency of flooding and Dr Moir’s report were considered, and it was agreed that officers should further investigate two of the proposed options.
“This work is underway and will be reported back to members in the spring.”