Councillors agree £10,000 ‘temporary fix’ to move rock armour at Montrose golf course

Councillors agreed a plan to reposition a small area of rock armour along the front of the dunes at a recent policy and resources committee meeting.

The rock armour protects an important and exposed part of Montrose golf links that sits by the coast.

The approval came as council bosses revealed that the dunes have retreated up to 12 metres in this area.

This is said to be the result of the storms Babet and Gerrit, which battered the east coast of Scotland last year.

However, council chiefs admitted that the move was a temporary solution with “no guarantee” of the project’s effectiveness in preventing erosion in the area.

Graeme Dailly, director of infrastructure and environment at the council, said: “This is purely with the view to protecting the golf course, rather than part of our wider approach in terms of the protection of Montrose Bay.

“This is a temporary fix and it’s targeting a very small area.

“But there is a strong feeling that the rock armour put there will slow down the loss of the golf course.

“It will not prevent it but it will offer a level of protection.”

However, councillors called for more effective solutions aimed at tackling the erosion slowly claiming the golf course.

Conservative councillor Ross Greig said:”We need to be seriously looking at a long-term fix for these dunes to ultimately protect, not just the golf course, but Montrose as a whole.”

Montrose Golf Links is thought to be the fifth oldest golf course in the world, with the 1562 named after the first instance on record of golf being played over the links.

It was recorded by James Melville, son of the minister at nearby Maryton, in his personal diary. Golf was formally organised at Montrose in 1810.

The council has a wider plan to try to tackle erosion, with £440,000 grant application approved by the Scottish Government's Coastal Change Adaption Fund in January to support restoration of the dunes.