Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham toured Stonehaven yesterday to see the impact of last month’s flooding.
She is the first Scottish minister to visit the town since heavy rainfall caused the River Carron to burst its banks on November 1, flooding about 30 shops and businesses, as well as homes.
Some of those affected criticised the time it had taken her to visit.
Lesley Wilson, owner of Flowers by Lesley, in Barclay Street, which was closed for four weeks, said: “It’s a bit delayed and I don’t know why she was here to be honest.”
Community council chairman David Fleming said he was pleased to have had a meeting with the minister but disappointed it had taken so long to happen.
“I think someone from the government should have been here in the week following the flooding to see how devastating it was to individuals and businesses and to check whether the response was adequate,” he said.
He added that Ms Cunningham had “restated her view that a full open public inquiry would be over the top, too expensive and cumbersome for what we need”.
When questioned about the five-week interval Ms Cunningham said: “I’m here now, I’ve been to Dumfries, and I think the people here would rather talk about the future than the past.”
She said the Scottish Government would not stand in the way of a local independent public inquiry into what caused the flooding.
“It’s not something that the government would set up,” she said, adding that it was more important for everyone to sit down together and review what could be done in the future.
Last month the government gave the Scottish Environment Protection Agency £9.8million to improve flood warning systems in Scotland. The north-east system is due to become active in March, but Ms Cunningham said she was not sure if it would cover the River Carron.
Aberdeenshire Council said yesterday that 38 of its tenants – nine at Stonehaven, 27 at Huntly and two at Portsoy – were still in temporary accommodation and getting council assistance.