Deadline to apply for grant from floodbank repairs scheme looms

Support: Less than a week left to seek help from £1m fund in wake of winter storms

Farmers whose floodbanks were damaged in the winter storms have less than a week to apply for a grant from the Government’s £1 million repair scheme.

The Agricultural Floodbank Repair Grant Scheme applies to nine local authorities – including Perth and Kinross, Angus, Stirling, Aberdeenshire and the city of Aberdeen – and relates to the storms between December 5 2015 and January 9 this year.

Farmers are required to fill out a short application form and send accompanying photos of the damaged floodbanks by February 29.

The level of individual awards – up to a maximum of £20,000 – may be affected if the scheme is oversubscribed.

However, it is understood this is not yet the case.

Once the scheme has closed, all applications will be assessed.

A spokesman for NFU Scotland (NFUS) said yesterday the union had received assurances from the Scottish Government that successful applicants would rapidly receive their grant authorisation letter so that they could start repair work.

The union has met the Scottish Government and Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) several times since the flooding, and has presented officials with proposals for changes to regulation and practice that would reduce the risk of flooding to farmland and downstream settlements.

This week union officials will also meet Cosla – the local authorities’ representative body.

Further meetings with Scottish Natural Heritage and Sepa are also on the agenda in the coming weeks.

NFUS president Allan Bowie said the union had been working to assist individual affected members as well as pushing Government and regulators to make the changes necessary to reduce the risk of similar events happening in the future.

He said: “It is heartening that both Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead and Terry A’Hearn, chief executive of Sepa, have gone on record as saying that the status quo is untenable.

“NFUS wholeheartedly agrees, and it is essential that Scottish Government and Sepa work with us to find a sustainable way to reduce flood risk to farmland, villages, and our urban areas,” he added.

Applications for the Agricultural Floodbank Repair Grant Scheme are available online at www.ruralpayments.org/publicsite/futures/topics/all-schemes/floodbank-repair-scheme/

It is essential that Scottish Government and Sepa work with us to find a sustainable way to reduce flood risk. ALLAN BOWIE

Picture: Ron Stephen. The need for floodbanks was brought home by winter storms.