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Moray Council under fire over “embarrassing” erosion policy

Allan Wright
Allan Wright

An erosion policy proposed by Moray Council has come under fire from councillors and concerned residents.

At a meeting of the local authority’s economic development and infrastructure committee earlier this week, an erosion policy written by council officers was described as “embarrassing” by several councillors for being painfully short.

The draft policy stated: “The council may take action to address the consequences of erosion – i) by promoting a coast protection scheme; ii) where prioritised to reduce flood risk; or iii) where council assets are at risk. Otherwise the presumption is against taking action.”

Councillors Gordon McDonald, Allan Wright and Douglas Ross all described the proposal as being “embarrassingly short”.

Council officers claimed that they were trying to be as concise as possible with the proposal, but councillors voted unanimously to adopt a more substantial explanation of the draft policy.

Mr Ross, Fochabers-Lhanbryde, whose constituents in Kingston have been seeking council support to stop erosion for years, said: This policy would have kicked the residents of Kingston into the long grass forever.”

Retired Kingston resident John Fensome is part of a community group which has been fighting for council support to save and protect a soil banking behind a shingle bank that stands alone between the villagers’ houses and the sea. The 71-year-old said the original policy proposed was “unbelievable”.

He said: “There’s nothing to stop the bank being damaged by a really bad storm. The necessity of armoured rocking to protect these houses cannot be stressed enough. What we asked for was recommended by members’ reports over the years, but the council has never taken it up. It seems again the council are trying to weasel out of it again with their latest policy.

“Quite frankly, that is totally and utterly unacceptable. That’s an absolute and utter disgrace about what’s going on. There are too many councillors who don’t listen to the people they represent. This isn’t democratic at all. They are trying very hard to get out of doing anything with this community. The winter storm season is here. One decent storm, and there’s going to be a tragedy down here.

“The community here is in danger. I’m 71, my wife is 72. The majority of people in Kingston are older. My wife is worrying herself sick about it.

“If anything happened to our homes, none of us would be eligible for another mortgage, but that’s all been missed. It’s taken us a life time to get all the things in our home. I don’t want to see them destroyed because the council won’t act.”