News & Events

News and Events

16th May 2025 – Stakeholder Meeting

Thanks must go again to all who attended and as always to Maree Todd MSP for Caithness, Sutherland & Ross for Chairing this virtual meeting under difficult cirumstances! Discussions were held between parties with particular reference to the lack of a beach access point and how this can be resolved in the future. GFAG representative, Henrietta Marriott reported that the village had experienced a relatively mild winter thankfully with no storm damage or flooding. However, proactive measures continue, with 50 water butts provided to local propeties. Upcoming acitivites include tree planting south of the business park to manage water runoff and progress with the Pier Brewing project becoming feasible. Progress has also been made on replacing the old pier with a groyne, supported by a successful grant from the Coastal Change Adaptation Fund.

The minutes from this meeting can be provided on request.

27th January 2025 – Stakeholder Meeting

Thanks must go to all who attended and especially to Maree Todd MSP for Caithness, Sutherland & Ross for Chairing the meeting. This was a positive & successful meeting, especially with regard to Network Rail engagement. They are actively working with Sutherland Estates, Highland Council & Scottish Water to resolve the flooding issues at Dunrobin Sawmill junction with the A9, around Argo Terrace railway bridge and at Culmaily crossing. They were open to suggestion of planting to the south of the business park & renovation of old attenuation pond below Golspie Tower.

BEAR Scotland are inspecting & reporting on all water outfalls on a weekly basis.

The minutes from this meeting can be provided on request.

Christmas Trees Update!

Lots of people have been asking about the project that is occuring at St Anne’s North West Beach in Blackpool. See the video opposite. Unfortunately, because there needs to be at least 20 meters of clear beach between the high tide mark and the begining of dune land for Christmas tree planting so that the trees are not washed away at every high tide, the Christmas tree idea is not a viable option. The Golspie Flood Action Group have investigated this thoroughly including contacting the St Anne’s North Beach Christmas Tree Project co-ordinators to ask for their expertise in accessing the shorelines suitability. Andrew Mills, Area Conservation Ranger at Fylde Council was sent links to the coastal studies that have been done of Golspie, as well as some drone footage & photos of the coastline.

Water Butts Available!!

All those who have expressed interest and would like to get water butts can now order them direct from Lindsay’s in the village. They are currently free of charge and will be on a first come first served basis until the funding runs out. If you need help to fit them, please contact the flood group & we will try to put you in touch with someone who can assist. Thank you to Go Golspie & Lindsay’s for their support with this project,

The question of how water butts help in periods of heavy rainfall was asked at the last Community Council meeting! They reduce the flow of water into the storm drains by approximately 20% – Click on this link for more information https://slowtheflow.net/retrofitting-water-butts/

Cumulatively, this will make a significant difference in Golspie, especially if houses have more than 1 water butt. According to SEPA approx 63% of our flood risk is from the coast, 17% from rivers and 20% from surface water i.e. water from buildings/roofs/roads & tarmac driveways etc. Water butts are a cheap, quick and easy self-help measure & could reduce flood risk for the whole community by up to 4%. It’s not huge, but every little helps…!

The advice for water butts offers 3 options –

1. Water butts fitted with a diverter kit will fill up and then rainfall will be automatically diverted into the downpipe & into the drain. No need for the householder to do anything once the rain butt is installed.

2. For water butts with no diverter kit either leave the tap open for the whole winter, or open it when heavy rain or storms are forecast to allow the water butt to act as a leaky dam, trickling the rain out over a longer period of time.

3. Either type can be retrofitted with a tap higher up the water butt. See the link above.

Golspie Flood Action Group in the News Again!!

As always the Flood Group continue to raise awareness with a new piece about the village and their plight in the Highlands & Islands Climate Hub News. They caught up with Henrietta during the summer to find out the latest news from the group and have included this within a new article and film Climate Action: Highlands & Islands https://hiclimatehub.co.uk/filmclimateaction

Click on the image to the right and scroll down to read the article.

The full film can be accessed by clicking the button

STV Scotland Tonight

Golspie Flood Action Group and the plight of the village and A9 coastal erosion highlighted with members of the group interviewed. Click the photo to the left for a Link to last Thursday’s (26th Sept 24) STV Scotland Tonight feature on coastal erosion in Golspie.

The Times 29th September 2024

Residents of a coastal village (Golspie) that has been settled for more than 700 years have been warned that it is facing an ‘existential threat’ thanks to extreme weather caused by climate change. Click the photo to the left to read the full article.

9th September 2024 – Stakeholder Meeting

Disappointing attendance with only a few representatives of the stakeholders at this meeting. Issues identified included:

The maintenance and management of the water outfalls has not been fulfilled.
Even if Scottish Government Funding is obtained, nothing will happen before 2030 and this would only consist of Highland Council raising the Seawall.
The Dynamic Coast site visit by Alistair Rennie confirmed that some beach levels have dropped due to the damage to the Pier which is stopping it from acting as a Groyne.

Although there were few results on previously discussed actions, the meeting did continue to keep Golspie at the forefront and top of the agenda of stakeholders and local authority. The minutes from the meeting can be provided on request.

Golspie Flood Action Group Banners

Banners have now been placed at the north and south entrances to the village to raise awareness and create publicity for the group! Thanks must go to Kate Kirk (middle of photo) for the great idea!

Golspie Gala 30th July 2024

Members represented the group at both the Car Boot Sale and Hill Run during Golspie Gala Week! It was great to engage with local people, discuss what the group are doing for the village and get lots of signatures on the petition which will be used to help apply for funding, big and small in the coming months!

18th July 2024 – Comedy Night, Golspie Golf Club

A great night was enjoyed by all who supported this event and thanks must go to all who attended! Lots of laughs supplied by our great 3 comedians:

Scottish Comedian of the Year in 2006 Mark Nelson

River City and Scot Squad Actor Raymond Mearns

The star of BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Radio 4’s “Jail Mates” Gary Little

All proceeds will be going to the flood defence fund.

20th June 2024 – The Hustings, Fountain Road Hall, Golspie

All the political candidates at the Hustings evening event were given 3 sets of questions to answer and the flooding issue was first!!!!

Flood Risk & Related Funding

“Given the increasing frequency of severe weather events, what specific measures will you pledge in order to enhance flood defences in Caithness, Sutherland, and Easter Ross – and specifically Golspie (as that is where we are today), and how will you ensure that adequate funding is allocated for these measures?”

All of them pledged to lobby both Holyrood & Westminster for central financing of flood protection schemes for Golspie and to press for prioritisation, a faster decision on funding and UK levelling up money.

7th June 2024 – Golspie 34/44 Place Plan

Members of the Golspie Flood Action Group, Henrietta & Helen, did a stellar job of manning the stand at the drop in session held at the Community Center. They fielded lots of interest and questions especially around the ‘bank and berm’ proposed project which was positivley received. Some people did express reservations for the ‘raising of the sea wall’ project. There was also much curiosity around the land reclamation, building of groynes, lagoon, marina and other more creative ideas that are being talked about. It was great to see the event well attended by the village.

20th May 2024 – Royal Visit: Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh tour Golspie Seafront and Harbour Area

Many thanks must go to Henriette and Patrick Marriott (Lord-Lieutenant of Sutherland) for organising the visit made by their Royal Highnesses to Golspie village. The aim of the visit was to focus on the effects of climate change and to see for themselves the effects of flooding and erosion and how these are directly affecting local people. Their Royal Highnesses met with various local clubs and groups, the Golspie Community Council, fisherman, veterans, pupils from Golspie Primary School and others. Thanks must also go to the Sutherland Caledonian Pipe Band and the Sutehrland Schools’ Pipe Band.

The visit has bought much needed media attention with the tour recieving both local and national media coverage and it is hoped that this welcome focus will help to put Golspie ‘on the map’ and help the Golspie Flood Action Group in their quest for funding to ‘Protect the Village, Protect the A9, Protect the Future’. Please go to PHOTOS for more images of the event. Please click on the buttons below to access the news features.

7th & 8th May 2024 – Scottish Flood Forum

Many thanks must go to Helen Joy for organising the visit made by Doug MacPhee & Kasha Jarosz from the Scottish Flood Forum who ran a very engaging and practical session at the Community Hall on the evening of 7th May. After a discussion around the broader flooding issues Golspie faces, the options available to protect property from the unwanted ingress of both sea and fresh water were talked through. These included: replacing air bricks with flood air bricks which have non-return valves / chambers, fitting non-return valves on service piping, fitting flood prevention gates and having an Emergency Flood Kit made up and easily accessible. More information can be accessed by clicking the button below for anyone interested.

The subsequent visits to individual properties on 8th May were very well received and lasted about an hour for each. Every aspect of the house was considered and a report will be issued to property oweners within 2 weeks offering detailed recommendations. These reports are private.

22nd April 2024 – Stakeholder Meeting

Many thanks must go to Henrietta Marriott Co-ordinator of the Golspie Flood Action Group and Chairperson of the Golspie Community Council for bringing together representatives from all interested parties for the very first time. These included local Highland Council, SEPA, Dynamic Coast, BEAR, Transport Scotland, Scottish Water and Golspie Community Council. Points from this meeting were also communicated to the Scottish Minister for Environment & Climate Change, Mairi McAllan. The next meeting has been scheduled for 9th September 2024.

The minutes from the meeting can be provided on request.

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