Upper Dee restoration project documents

This document contains a summary of a project commissioned by the Cairngorms National Park Authority to rejuvenate around 135 hectares of the Dee valley. The project aims to restore natural river processes, reconnect the river with its floodplain, and enhance the habitat quality for wildlife. The final design involves removing most of the flood embankment, all hard bank protection, creating wetlands, planting trees, and adding large wood to the channel. Computer modeling shows that the design improves flooding in the floodplain but does not increase flood risk. The project will improve the ecosystem and increase the capacity to support a diverse ecosystem.

This document contains a flood risk assessment for the proposed restoration of a 3.6 km section of the River Dee, located between Allanquoich and Allanmore, west of Braemar. The restoration project involves removing embankments and reconnecting the river with its floodplain to improve habitat quality. The assessment considers potential flooding from various sources and examines the risk to the site and neighboring properties, finding that the development is within the functional floodplain, but the design meets Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) requirements because the restoration can't be placed in an area of lower flood risk. Hydraulic modelling shows an increase in floodplain depths with the restoration, but no significant impact on downstream flooding or flood receptors.

This document contains artist's impressions of a site, showing its current state and how it will look after restoration from four different viewpoints. Each viewpoint has two images: one labelled "present" and the other labelled "future", illustrating the anticipated changes after the restoration is complete.