Soil nails to prevent Portknockie landslip
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NEARLY 300 massive soil nails are set to be driven into the ground at Portknockie to prevent further potentially disastrous landslips.
A drop-in session in the village's McBoyle Hall held by staff from Moray Council and contractors Morrison Construction to outline the plans.
Before the of this month, the aim is to start driving a total of 274 five metre soil nails into the banking at Harbour Road and Patrol Road, which will be covered with netting to stabilise the ground. This will them be finished off with soil and grass, rendering the work invisible.
Moray Council senior engineer Will Burnish said: "Doing the work will be quite awkward as the only we can do it is send people down on ropes.
"We're also putting new drains in to help deal with any very heavy rainfall
"However, once completed the risk of slips like this happening again should be dramatically lowered."
Mr Burnish added it was hoped the work would be competed by the end of July.
Welcoming the news, Portknockie Flood Action group chairman Rob Barsby commented: "We’ve had a long wait but at least it appears that a sustainable solution will soon be in place."
Local councillors Theresa Coull and Ron Shepherd also praised the plans.
"I'm delighted to see such robust plans in pace which not only deal with the landslips but the drainage issues as well," she said.
Councillor Shepherd added: "It's great to see work about to ge under way. This represent a significant £1.7 million investment by the council to put the damage right properly."
The landslips occurred in 2017 after a period of exceptionally heavy rain. Blocked or infrequently cleaned drains were blamed by many residents for exacerbating the effect of the flooding.
