Brechin beyond the flood

Derek Lucas from Infrastructure will be at the community drop-in at The Crickety on Thursday 27 November at 11am

He’ll be giving an update about the face-to-face public engagement which is coming up soon.

This is where we will be presenting options for the uplift to the existing flood defences. The options will be split into three areas, The Inch, River Street and East Mill Caravan Park.

Derek will be available for a short time to take any questions on the engagement process. It doesn’t start until December, but this session will help to give you information about what to expect.

Look forward to seeing you then.

The next residents – Brechin Speak Up Meeting is on Monday 24^th November at 6.30pm at JARS, Brechin Community Hub, Victoria Park, Nursery Lane.

Derek Lucas from Infrastructure will be giving an update about the face-to-face public engagement which is coming up soon.

This is where we will be presenting options for the uplift to the existing flood defences. The options will be split into three areas, The Inch, River Street and East Mill Caravan Park.

Derek will be available for a short time to take any questions on the engagement process. It doesn’t start until December, but this session will help to give you information about what to expect.

Claire Greenhill, Community Housing Manager is also coming along to give an update on the recent housing committee report.

Look forward to seeing you all then.

The next meeting of the Brechih Community Resilience group will be held at The Crickety on Tuesday 18 November at 6:30pm. Everyone is welcome and remember, it's not just about flooding - storms, snow and ice can affect everyone across the town and having a local resilience group can really make a difference during severe weather, so come along and see how you can get involved.

The newly-formed Residents group will be meeting again on Monday 27 October at 6:30pm at JARS - Brechin community hub, Victoria Park, Nursery Lane. Everyone is welcome to come along, have a cuppie and discuss how to get involved to support your community. This is a group run by the community, for the community so please support it if you can.

We have appointed leading environmental and engineering consultancy JBA Consulting to develop designs for the uplift of Brechin’s Flood Protection Scheme.

And their team is now working in the Brechin River Street area, with a drone flight survey taking place in recent days and the Preliminary Ecological Survey of the area now underway.

The drone survey captured a series of photographs that will help to create a 3D model that will assist with future measurement and modelling of the designs.

An important part of the consultant’s work in close association with Angus Council will be continued community engagement across the channels that have already been established with local residents and businesses.

These will include online meetings, drop-in sessions, direct emails from our Communities Team, and updates on social media and the Engage Angus web pages - where residents can also subscribe to stay informed and receive updates, news and events relating to Brechin beyond the Flood.

It is anticipated that engagement on the design proposal options to raise the existing flood protection scheme will begin in December. Full details will be confirmed shortly.

Elected members agreed the allocation of £100k from the Year 4 UK Shared Prosperity Fund 2025/26 to progress design work to increase the height of the existing Flood Protection Scheme at Council’s meeting in June. The Communities Committee will receive reports on the progress and outcome of the design work and community engagement from the Council’s Director of Infrastructure and Environment.

BRSA Housing Engagement Phase 1 Update: Community Activity: Residents’ Group

Ten local residents attended the meeting. Through discussion it was agreed which issues were of primary concern. These included a build-up of leaves in drains, street lighting and bins and general appearance of railings and planters.

It was agreed we would explore how Angus Council could help address some of the issues and consider how the group can proactively contribute to reducing litter and improving flower planters. There was also an agreement by the group that they would take part in a research project about Police visibility.

The date of the next meeting is 27 October at 6:30pm in JARS, Brechin. All are welcome.

If you are interested in getting involved, and want further information please contact communityresilience@angus.gov.uk

Everyone is welcome.

Resilience Group

The resilience group met on Wednesday 17 September to further explore what the needs were in the local community that can be included in a resilience plan and what can be purchased from the resilience fund to benefit the community in response to any emergency incident. The group explored what would happen in a community and what would be needed if there was a National Power Outage (NPO) in the United Kingdom. Grant from The Crickety also outlined what equipment/ resources they had purchased from their recent successful funding bid from SSEN and how that can contribute to the group’s plan.

The next meeting is Wednesday 22 October at 7pm at The Crickety – all welcome and if you have any questions or ideas contact communityresilience@angus.gov.uk or just come along. We look forward to seeing you then.

Infrastructure

As promised, we’ve made a short video which explains how the flood defences work, including the role of the railings in the historic Inch wall and the pumps.

Housing Engagement

Phase 1 of the BRSA Housing Engagement Plan began after Angus Council approved key recommendations on 26 June 2025. This stage focused on listening to tenants and residents living in BRSA currently or ex Council stock, including those who resided there at the time of Storm Babet, and gathering their views on the future of the area.

Engagement activity

• What we did: written updates, questionnaires, local drop-in sessions, and one-to-one conversations.
• Who we spoke to: tenants and residents in BRSA housing stock, including households affected by Storm Babet.

Why we consulted

• Statutory requirement: the Council must consult tenants and other affected residents before disposing of, transferring, or making significant changes to Council housing under Scottish Government Guidance and related statutory requirements.
• Tenant Participation: this engagement also meets the commitments in our Tenant Participation Strategy to involve the people most affected at an early stage and ensure their views shape any proposals.

Options discussed

• Complete removal of Council housing in the area
• Removal and replacement elsewhere in the town
• Remodelling of the existing housing stock.

Next steps

• Early findings from Phase 1 consultation, including survey results, will be reported to the Housing Committee on 18 November.
• The committee will also consider recommendations to move into Phase 2, which will set out detailed consultation and design work.
• No final decisions will be made without further formal consultation with tenants and residents.

Environmental Improvements

Thanks to valuable feedback from residents received during the housing consultation we’ve taken action to restore and improve the look of the area, specifically to:

• Remove surplus bins
• Clear fly-tipping and debris
• Dismantle damaged fencing

Parks’ staff are also planning ongoing maintenance and one-off improvements that will improve the look of the area for everyone.

Additionally, work is progressing to clear or secure disused sheds and cellars, helping to make the area safer and more welcoming.

The next meeting of the residents group will be on 22 September at 6.30pm in JARS

A few members of the community attended a” residents’ group” follow up session on the 13 of August. At that session we agreed to look at how we can take small steps to tackle improving our environment.

There seems to be a few issues about litter, shrubbery, and dogs mess and more …

You are asked to take pictures of issues with a date and location. At the next meeting we will look at what the issues are and how we can resolve them. It is hoped we can take some collective community action but also work with partners to try to make improvements.

If you are interested in getting involved, please get your camera out and send your pictures to communityresilience@angus.gov.uk

Please come along if you are interested in joining the group.

Claire and Jennifer will be glad to see you there.

Thanks to everybody to attended the technical briefing on the role played by the Inch wall yesterday. There were some great questions which will inform the video that we'll make. Once finished, we will post the link on this page. In the meantime, in response to another request, we have added some useful flooding advice and guidance from a number of useful sources to help prepare for whatever this winter brings.

In addition, we are setting up a Brechin Community Resilience group for the whole of the town which will share ideas and resources on how to plan for, respond to and importantly, recover from all kinds of incidents and emergencies.

Come along to Glebe Park (Blue cabin) at 6:30pm on Monday 25 August -everyone is welcome

An information update for residents took place on Wednesday 9 July 2025.

View the slides from the presentation (pptx 1.2MB)

Committee papers from meeting of Angus Council 26 June 2025:

• Agenda Item No 8 - Report No 199/25 - Brechin Recovery And Regeneration
• Appendix 1 – Map of Brechin River Street Area
• Appendix 2 – Map of Inch Area
• Appendix 3 – Outline next steps – Phase 1
• Appendix 4 – Equality Impact Assessment

You may be aware that at the Angus Council Communities Committee on 26 November 2024, it was agreed that a member officer steering group would be set up “to provide oversight of the options appraisal process and approach to engagement” on the recovery of Brechin affected by Storm Babet.

The Convener of the Communities Committee was appointed as chair, joined by the three Brechin and Edzell ward members, along with relevant officers. (Section 3.1 (ii) Report 352/24 refers).

This group has met several times and based on discussions with the community, evidence from the two technical reports and their own conversations with residents and businesses, it has now arrived at some recommendations for next actions which will come before the Full Council on 26 June 2025 for approval before progressing.

If approved, these recommendations will bring some clarity to people in the River Street and associated areas which were so badly impacted by the devastating Storm Babet. They will also allow for meaningful engagement with the affected residents, business owners and community leaders on how best to progress the next stages.

The papers for the committee are currently being prepared and will be available for the public to read on 20 June on the Angus council website www.angus.gov.uk. We will share the link on the Engage Angus platform once they are posted (this is usually later on in the day).

Once decisions have been made, a programme of phased engagement with the community will be announced when we will start to discuss some key questions around the future of the community, including housing choices, flood prevention actions and other opportunities alongside the longer term vision and possibilities presented for the area.

In the meantime, mindful that flood prevention of individual properties is the responsibility of the homeowner, please take full advantage of the upcoming Angus Community Resilience Roadshow which takes place on 1 May at Brechin FC ground, Glebe Park, and features (among many other attractions!) Flo the Flood bus, with lots of ideas about how to prevent and minimise flooding.