This group has been formed by local residents to start a campaign to lobby politicians, statutory agencies and stakeholders to develop and implement a 10 to 20 year village wide strategic flood management plan. It is run by volunteers to try to save the village from further flood damage and coastal erosion which is threatening to decimate both the local area, national infrastructure, severely impact all those living & working to the north of Golspie . The membership has representatives from those living nearest to the shore, farms whose land is subject to flooding, the golf club, the kart track and Go Golspie Development Trust as well as other interested parties. The group is a subgroup of the community council, and is open to anyone affected by flooding, or interested in helping with this critical work to protect & future proof our community.
The framework that the group are working on is based on 5 ‘Ps’
We are very conscious that time is not on our side, the time for talking is over. Action is needed NOW to try to preserve what we still have. This means instigating interim measures that can be conducted at a local level to protect property, people, amenities. Already underway:
We are very aware that other communities across Scotland & UK have been gaining local and national publicity about their plight and we have set an aim of raising the profile of the village within the next 6 months. We are doing this by lobbying all local and national media outlets as well as asking our local residents and businesses to make our group more visible by utilizing banners at the entrances to the village and putting up posters and sending out flyers to all households. You can help by accessing the WHAT CAN I DO? page of this website.
With a national election in less than a month, our politicians are more likely to respond favourably to our plight, but they need to be made very aware of the issues that the village and the north of Scotland are facing. The Highlands is often ‘forgotten’ on the campaign trail and we need to rectify this in any way we can. We have already held an initial meeting with government, Highland council and stakeholders’ representatives such as SEPA, Scottish Water, Dynamic Coast, Transport Scotland, BEAR brought together by the local MSP. This has never been done before and many of them had never met each other. We believe that this is a first step in trying to get all agencies to work together and we will continue to invite them to all meetings and discussions in the future. We will hold them to account and lobby them to honour their legal obligations and commitments. We as a group are holding regular meetings and we will update you all on a regular basis on the outcomes in the coming months. Please go to the NEWS & EVENTS page for updates and dates of upcoming events and meetings that we would love you to attend. We also need you to contact MSPs, the Council and Authorities as well as other parties. We have made this easier for you to do by providing contact details and letter templates that you can easily download and use by accessing the WHAT CAN I DO? page. Alternatively, you can always use the CONTACT US page if you need help doing this.
Our plan is to implement strategies for the interim and the longer term. This plan is evolving as we gain momentum and hopefully as we secure more funding to implement the bigger schemes that will secure the future of our village as the gateway to the North of Scotland. Currently, the Golspie Flood Action Group is a subcommittee of the Community Council and we have a small amount of money ring fenced for us to use. Please go to the separate THE PLAN pages which give more details about this and timescales. Please keep checking back to this page as we will update this as we progress and achieve our goals.
We will update our NEWS & EVENTS page as often as possible, but the following is in early development:
© Golspie Flood Action Group 2024
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