WORK is underway to develop plans to deal with flooding and other emergencies in two Hillfoots towns.

Charity Scottish Flood Forum is helping volunteers in Menstrie and Tillicoultry, where more people can get involved with their skills and assets like first aid or 4x4 vehicles.

Groups are now working towards and action plan to make both communities more resilient and to make sure locals know what to do should an emergency situation develop.

The forum is working with a range of partners – including community councils, the local authority and Sepa (Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) – to take things forward.

The council and Sepa already initiated a flood alerting project specifically for Menstrie and the forum is creating a network of community resilience groups.

Paul Laidlaw, of the Scottish Flood Forum, told the Advertiser: “Those groups will allow the community to be able to plan, respond and prepare for any emergency. Our focus is on flooding, so we will support them to achieve that goal.

“The main benefit that they get is it ends up with a community knowing itself; they know what their skills are; they what their own assets are; they know what their own resources are.

“So, it’s [about] harnessing those resources to be able to deal with any particular emergency that may come up in the future, so we are able to support the response from the emergency services and the local authorities – with a focus on flooding.”

At the moment, the emphasis will be on growing the groups in the two towns.

Jim Bell, Fiona Logan and Stan Paterson are the key figures involved in Menstrie, while Gale Walker and Ewart McAuslane are driving it forward in Tillicoultry.

It is not just people with 4x4 who can get involved as anyone who is keen to have their input can get in touch.

Paul added: “One of the big things that both groups will be looking for, and we’ve approached Alva Academy, is to help the group to develop some social media communications, develop some communication strategy to get the message out there to the community.”

He mused: “And sometimes, I’m not being biased here, the younger people are much better at that nowadays.”

There is scope for all sorts of people of all ages to help out and Menstrie primary is already involved, monitoring water levels and sediment with the Conservation Volunteers.

They are working on the plans at their own pace and will have a draft ready in around six months’ time, when they will share it with the rest of the community.

Anyone keen to get involved can contact Paul by emailing plaidlaw@scottishfloodforum.org