This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Tide turns for Aberdeen beach
18/07/2006
Four hundred and thirty homes and businesses in Aberdeen will be better protected from erosion thanks to funding to restore the city's famous coastline.
Funding of £1.875 million for the Aberdeen Bay coast protection scheme has been awarded from Executive.
The project will replenish the beach and reduce the rate of damaging erosion to the seawall.
Speaking on a tour of Aberdeen Bay, Deputy Environment Minister Rhona Brankin said:
"This beautiful beach is prized by Aberdeen residents and is also well known to many others from visits to the city. As a former resident and user of the beach myself, I know that it is a highly valued asset to the community.
"This scheme will protect the coastline and give the people of Aberdeen their beach back before it disappears.
"I'm pleased that Aberdeen City Council has come forward with a workable solution that protects the 430 homes and businesses along the seafront which are at risk from erosion.
"This will be done by working with natural processes in Aberdeen Bay to enhance the environment.
"We want to help local authorities protect their vulnerable coastal areas, and I congratulate the Council for working with Montrose Port Authority to re-use sand dredgings.
"Material that would otherwise be dumped at sea will now be re-used, which avoids extraction from elsewhere on the sea bed - a benefit for the marine environment as well as users of the beach.
"This type of coast protection, funded through an 80 per cent grant from the Executive, will protect the £53.5 million worth of assets along the front of Aberdeen Bay. When compared with the cost of protection works, this clearly justifies the action taken by Aberdeen City Council to safeguard the future of its coastline."
The Aberdeen Bay coast protection scheme was confirmed, under the Coast Protection Act 1949, by Scottish Ministers in March 2006. Construction of approved schemes meeting certain criteria attracts 80 percent grant funding from the Executive. The total cost of the scheme will be £2.34 million.
Aberdeen City Council is constructing this Scheme to protect the £53.5 million present value of built assets along the frontage of Aberdeen Bay which could be at threat of flooding from the sea, if action were not taken, due to erosion of the seawall from the North Sea. The Scheme comprises the construction of rock T-heads (rock structures secured to the end of timber structures at the end of the shore, designed to absorb energy from waves to keep sand in place) and the initial charge of 70,000 cubic metres of sand from Montrose harbour. Post-project monitoring by the Council will be necessary, on an ongoing basis, to inform the frequency and amount of subsequent recharges of sand, which would each be the subject of separate coast protection schemes in later years.
Ministers announced in September 2004, as part of the outcome of the 2004 Spending Review, further resources of £75 million between 2006-08 for approved coast protection and confirmed flood prevention schemes. Ministers also announced an increase in the grant rate to 80 percent, which would apply for all grant offers made from 2004. It is for local authorities to come forward with suitable schemes to take up these resources.