Alex Salmond urges planners to let nature help in flood battle
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NATURE must be made to create flood defences and prevent water getting into built-up areas.
This was the view from Alex Salmond, MP for Gordon, when he upheld the Huntly Rotary Club tradition of having the Westminster representative for the area as the guest speaker at the first meeting of the year.
Mr Salmond, who visited the worst hit areas of Deeside and Donside in the days after the flooding, said he had been enormously impressed by the resilience of those whose homes had been flooded and by the community spirit which had emerged as people tried to recover from the devastation.
Mr Salmond said that in future decision makers would have to be more aware of where new housing was permitted as the hazards of building on flood plains had been exposed in recent weeks.
He said: "I never cease to be amazed by the destructive power of water. My view is that whatever flood defences you might have had, none would have prevented what happened in Inverurie. Bunds were swept away by the current like matchsticks.
"Sensible things need to be done. Drains and culverts need to be kept clear but we need to make nature work for us and plant trees to soak up the moisture."
Mr Salmond spoke about new legislation and the creation of flood plans for every major river in Scotland, including proposals to compensate farmers who allow river water to be diverted onto their ground.
He said: "Putting water where it does least damage and compensating farmers for the greater good in a co-ordinated way would be much better than the clean-up operation now faced.
"We won’t ever be able to totally prevent houses from flooding, the force of nature will still be upheld at times, but it will put us in a better position."
Huntly poised for infrastructure boom - read Alex Salmond's thoughts in the Huntly Express print version - out now.
