Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North-east pensioner angered by council’s flooding inaction

Post Thumbnail

A community-spirited pensioner has attacked Aberdeenshire Council’s lack of action to prevent erosion and flooding of a north-east riverbank.

Retired farmer, Norman Fraser, 83, from Ellon has been carrying out routine maintenance on the riverbank next to the car park in the town centre for the last 17 years in his spare time and has voiced his concerns to the authority’s landscaping department.

Mr Fraser trims the verges and believes the lack of dredging along the Ythan is causing the river current to split in two when it hits a natural island in the middle of the river next to the town’s main bridge.

He said: “They need to dig away most of the middle island and deposit it on the far side of the bank.

“It also needs to be shored up over there with boulders to prevent it eroding anymore. The extra current forces more water over to the car park riverbank – the path has completely vanished – where fishermen used to be able to walk right along there.”

Discussing the possible return of the Ythan Raft Race, Mr Fraser described it as a “crazy idea” and added: “The folk getting in and out would just wreck the banking even more.

“I have already placed some large boulders on the car park side.”

Head of Roads, Landscape Services and Waste Management, Philip McKay said: “We are about to commission a flood study for Ellon which will consider natural flood management measures, along with traditional flood defences.

“The study will also look at property protection, with the final flood protection scheme expected to include a combination of measures to ensure a sustainable and integrated approach to flood risk management.

“This will be a comprehensive piece of work and is due to be completed by the end of 2019, with the aim of including it in the next flood risk management planning cycle from 2022 to 2027.”

Councillor Gillian Owen praised Mr Fraser’s “fantascommunity spirit, but argued: “We all need to be pulling together.

“I can’t see the Ythan raft race coming back and I’m not sure the town can take many more events. We already have the Gig on the Brig and the Pedal Car Race – I think the health and safety involved in a raft race would be too much nowadays.”