It has become the land that time forgot.
Last October, Storm Babet caused widespread devastation across Angus and wider Tayside.
People lost their lives while homes and businesses were destroyed.
Brechin was at the epicentre of the destruction, whole streets submerged as the River South Esk burst its banks.
In the immediate aftermath, then First Minister Humza Yousaf was on the ground, witnessing the suffering firsthand.
The eyes of the country were on the town and the promise of help dispatched.
A promise that has not been delivered.
In the 12 months since, Brechin and its residents have been forgotten, let down by both Angus Council and the Scottish Government.
Government funding nowhere near enough
Residents would be forgiven for thinking their plight has not been a priority for those in charge at Holyrood.
That’s certainly what the level of funding afforded to them would suggest.
Through the Bellwin scheme, a grant designed to help local authorities in the aftermath of emergency incidents, Angus Council applied for £6.9m.
That is a fraction of the cost thought needed to restore Brechin and protect it in the future.
So far, the Scottish Government has only paid £5.7m, a £1.2m deficit on the bare minimum.
The local authority is also short a further £300k from the Bellwin scheme for claims lodged over storms Gerrit, Isha and Jocelyn.
The other sums made available for the hundreds of families and businesses left destitute totalled around £600,000, a paltry offering given nearly 60 homes will probably never be fit to be lived in again.
That is a far cry from the level of help indicated while the attention of the nation was focused on Angus.
Angus Council in a state of inertia
The inaction from those on high over the past 12 months is nothing short of ridiculous – but the local authority must also take their share of the blame for such passivity.
Angus Council has not done nearly enough to hold the Scottish Government, or themselves, to account.
The lack of drive from within the council has caused this state of inertia.
Residents are still awaiting a long-overdue consultancy report on the impact of Storm Babet.
The council now says it will be delivered in November – but are already downplaying what the report will achieve.
In fact, the local authority’s chief executive has warned the paper “almost definitely” won’t give folk “the answers to questions they’ve been asking for months”.
What an appalling waste of resource – and of everyone’s time and patience.
Obviously aware that’s how the document will be received, the council is trying to manage expectations before its release.
It could be argued that the council put more effort into its own image management surrounding the storm than on other, much more important, aspects.
This week it published a ‘myth-busting’ campaign which has been seen as the local authority trying to absolve itself of blame concerning their flood defence system.
Amid huge public backlash the campaign has now been paused.
The people of Brechin deserve better than this.
It is time both local and national government remembered that.
Conversation