Residents of an Argyll town are meeting to discuss flood defences.
Dozens of people are expected to turn out to the Rockfield Centre in Oban next week to discuss ways to preventing future flash floods across the area.
The drop-in sessions – taking place next Thursday between 12.30pm – 3pm and 6pm – 8pm- are the latest in a line of meetings which have been hosted by Argyll and Bute Council in recent months in support of their Local Flood Risk Management Plan.
A shortlist of profitable options have already been identified including flood storage upstream of the town, flood defences along the Black Lynn and coastal defence walls.
Flood modelling, conceptual design and cost estimates have also been used to compare the relative performance of each option.
At the meeting, local residents will meet with representatives from Argyll and Bute Council and flood defence experts to have informal discussion about their preferred defence option, while sharing local flood knowledge.
Presentations followed by a questions and answers session will also take place during the event at 1pm and 6.30pm.
Oban North and Lorn councillor Kieron Green spoke of the benefits these meetings bring to finding an effective solution.
He said: “We have had a number of examples of that already in the last year and it’s clearly something which is going to affect people in the future, obviously more frequently as a result of changing weather due to climate change so it’s really important that we have measures in place to protect our community. It’s absolutely right the people of the area have a say on what sort of measures are being considered.
“Often measures to alleviate flooding can be quite intrusive, so it’s really important that people appreciate why those are being put in. Any suggestions on how we can make these blend in with the surroundings more would be very welcome.”
Feedback provided by all attendees will inform the preferred flood scheme solution for Oban, which will then be presented for consideration to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and the Scottish Government for funding.
The plan was launched last year after major flooding and heavy rainfall resulted in wide-spread devastation for local homes and business.
In October last year, Lochavullin Retail Park suffered extensive flooding, resulting in the closure of Lynn road and preventing vehicles from accessing retailers Tesco, Homebase, Argos and M&S Food Hall.
Cars residing in the public car park were submerged under feet of water as properties in Soroba Road was left waterlogged as the nearby Black Lynn Burn burst its banks.
