The Grangemouth Flood Protection Scheme (GFPS) is set to progress to a crucial next phase after securing an additional £1.6m from the Scottish Government, announced this week.

This supplements the £400,000 approved by councillors in November 2025, taking the total available to up to £2m to support the forthcoming stage of work.

The Council is awaiting the findings of a local hearing on the GFPS. Once received, the funding will be used to further develop designs, with proposals focused on protecting residential areas along the River Carron corridor where communities face significant flood risk. Site investigations, monitoring and initial design work will shape the detailed engineering plans required to enable future construction.

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The announcement follows a year of work by a joint taskforce led by the Council and the Scottish Government, which reviewed the overall scheme and agreed a long-term, phased delivery. The River Carron has been identified as the first priority, and officers will now prepare plans that would ultimately allow a tender to be issued for a construction partner to begin the first elements of the scheme.

One of the largest proposed flood defence projects in the United Kingdom, the GFPS ultimately aims to protect more than 6,000 people, around 2,760 homes and about 1,200 businesses and other properties. Although named after Grangemouth, it covers a wider area along the River Carron, including Wholeflats, Glensburgh, Langlees, Carron, Carronshore and parts of Stirling Road in Camelon, as well as Grangemouth itself. These communities sit close to the river and surrounding flood plains, facing risk from both river and coastal flooding.

Malcom Bennie, Director of Place Services, said:: "This is a pragmatic approach that maximises the budgets available to continue to develop solutions that culminate in helping to protect local people, homes and businesses. The investment will pay for site investigations and initial design work needed for the first construction phase of the project.

"Once we have this information, the project team can start to make bids for the major investment needed from the Council and Scottish Government to bring the first phases of the project to life."