Councils battling to help communities ravaged by floods in north and north-east Scotland could have to wait months to receive government aid – and may never see any money at all.
The SNP has been accused of “grand but hollow statements” after Deputy First Minister John Swinney granted local authorities access to a cash pot designed to help the victims of recent natural disasters.
But the Bellwin Scheme has been branded “overly restrictive” with a “narrow criteria” in which councils can recoup cash spent helping those in affected areas.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have now demanded the Scottish Government do more to ensure the Bellwin Scheme does not leave councils to “soldier on alone”.
Leader Willie Rennie said: “The Scottish Government knows the Bellwin Scheme is overly restrictive with narrow criteria on when it will actually pay out but that’s the way it likes it.
“The flooding in the north-east of Scotland is some of the worst the country has ever seen and yet SNP ministers are more than happy to let councils soldier on alone rather than extending an immediate helping hand.
“This is not the time for grand but hollow statements and how the scheme is administrated needs to be reviewed immediately.”
Mr Rennie added that despite heavy flooding in Alyth and Comrie in recent years, Perth and Kinross Council has had requests for help under the Bellwin Scheme turned down.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said: “Flooding in Alyth and Comrie in 2015 and 2013 respectively did not meet the criteria for the Bellwin Scheme.
“Mr Rennie has obviously not noticed that Alyth was awarded funding support in the Budget in December.
“The Bellwin Scheme is a discretionary scheme which allows ministers to provide extra revenue support to local authorities to help with the immediate and unforeseen costs in dealing with the aftermath of large-scale emergency incidents, including housing of residents and the clean-up operation.
“It does not cover capital costs for damage to infrastructure, and we will provide support to local authorities for those issues through other funding, including part of the total £16million package allocated in the aftermath of the recent severe weather.”