THE Scottish Government is giving more than £2 million to Aberdeenshire Council to help repair damage caused by Storm Frank.
The £2.06 million of emergency funding through the Bellwin Scheme comes on top of £2 million allocated to the council in 2016 to ensure every home, business, or charity directly affected by last year’s extreme floods received help.
The Bellwin Scheme is discretionary funding to help councils facing an undue financial burden as a result of large-scale emergencies.
Local authorities in the north east also received more than £10 million funding this financial year to take forward priority flood protection schemes in their areas.
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay announced the extra funding on Friday.
He said: “There’s no doubt that Aberdeenshire was among the areas hit the hardest by last year’s flooding, which is why this £2 million of funding will be welcome news to the council and communities affected by Storm Frank.
“This support through the Bellwin scheme will help Aberdeenshire Council meet some of the immediate and unforeseen costs of the flood damage.
“The Scottish Government is committed to working to reduce flood risk across Scotland and has committed £420 million over the next 10 years to protect homes in many of our most flood-prone areas.”
Richard Thomson, co-leader of Aberdeenshire Council, said the local authority had spent about £12 million so far dealing with effects of the floods.
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