Alexander Burnett has called for more action in the North East to aid flood recovery in the area. Following his own business facing a £100,000 bill and residents facing hundreds or even thousands of pounds of damage as well, Alexander has slammed the SNP's grant of £1,500 stating it does not even begin to cover the costs of repairs involved. He has called for the Scottish Government to waive planning fees for rebuilding damaged properties, as current efforts have had little significance to those affected.

The worst hit part of the estate was at Milton of Crathes, where several businesses were left in ruins, along with fishing huts along the banks of the Dee. He said 'My business has suffered over £100,000 of damage, only some of which will be covered by insurance. We had two fishing huts destroyed, two shops at Milton of Crathes flooded, a new playground ruined and several hundred metres of road and fencing in need of replacing.

'The worst single point of damge would be one of the fishing huts which was brand new, it was only completed 18 months ago. Luckily that hut was insured so we will now look to relocate it - though this will need a new planning application - so we're hoping the Scottish Government will waive the planning fees for this.'

'Whilst my business has been affected, I was fortunate enough to not suffer any damage to my home. The Scottish Government must provide more support to people whose homes were damaged as they face months of renovations, relocations and heartache that this flooding has caused. It is an extremely challenging time for residents and the SNP need to provide more support to these victims.'

Moira McGlashan, who rents one of Alexander's shops for her business Rustiques, echoed his calls for more assistance and said she was still trying to work out if she would be able to afford to reopen. She said it had been an "incredibly difficult time" for all those affected by Storm Frank and added: 'Last week trying to pay my wage bills was pretty tough - I can only hope that I will hear soon news of when or if I am able to reopen.'

Whilst the Scottish Government has added that local authorities have discretion to increase the grant in individual circumstances, Alexander Burnett has criticised this as it will be an increasingly timely process, 'Businesses and residents need to get back on their feet as quickly as possible, and not be sat idly waiting to hear if their individual case will be allow an increase in their grant or if they can rebuild their own home. The Council will have enough on their plate helping with the clean up and restoration of properties, so the Scottish Government should help this process by waiving planning fees for flooded properties.'

The Agricultural Floodbank Repair Grant Scheme has now become to provide funding to farmers to help repair man-made floodbanks damaged by flooding between 5 December, 2015 and 9 January, 2016.

Grants will be awarded up to a maximum of £20,000 per farm business. However, this may require to be adjusted downwards depending on the number and value of applications received for the scheme.

For more information visit https://www.ruralpayments.org/publicsite/futures/topics/all-schemes/floodbank-repair-scheme/