The Scottish Government will offer no financial assistance to the Stonehaven flood protection scheme, it has been revealed.
Aberdeenshire Council had expected help towards the £14-16 million cost of the project in the town, which was badly hit by flooding two years ago.
It has now been informed that Government grants before the scheme’s planned start date of late next year have been fully allocated and the council will meet next week to decide whether or not to fully fund the project itself or delay its start date in the hope of obtaining future funding.
The news emerged in a report to councillors by the director of infrastructure services Stephen Archer.
He said: “It had been hoped that funding assistance could be secured from the Scottish Government.
“However, it has been confirmed that the funds available through the flooding component of the General Capital Grant for this review period have been fully allocated.
“Any underspend in grant monies not taken up in the current allocation will be subject to discussion with Cosla regarding their reallocation.
“The mechanism for future funding for flood protection schemes is currently unclear but is likely to be strongly linked to the delivery of the emerging flood risk management plans being developed under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009.”
Up to 80% of a project’s cost could be funded by the Government under the scheme but the contribution level after 2016 is unclear.
Mr Archer added: “As the timescale identified for the implementation of the flood risk management plans is June 2016, it is highly unlikely that the Stonehaven scheme would be able to attract Scottish Government funding until, at least, late 2016. This date does not fit in well with the best case scenario of a start on site in late 2015.
“Should the project be legally committed and started on site in 2015, it is very unlikely that the scheme would then be eligible to apply for funding retrospectively,” he continued.
“Therefore, legally committing the construction works before an application for funding assistance will, most likely, result in the full cost of the scheme being borne by the council.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said they welcomed Aberdeenshire Council’s continued development of a flood protection scheme for Stonehaven but would not comment on the grant application.
The council’s policy and resources committee will be asked to approve in principle the funding of the entire scheme while continuing to pursue all possible funding opportunities from the Scottish Government when it meets on Thursday.
The harbours, coast protection and flooding line in the capital plan contains an allocation of £21,517,000 until 2027.
While this is sufficient to fully fund the Stonehaven project, this amount also has to cover work across Aberdeenshire.