Works due to start to bring an end to Wester Inshe' flooding issues as Councillor Ken Gowans says residents can now "breathe a sigh of relief" after an "exasperating" 10-year struggle to sort out drainage problems
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Residents of Wester Inshes will be able to finally “breathe a sigh of relief” after more than a decade of repeated flooding looks set to come to an end, according to a local councillor.
For years there has been a wrangle over how to solve the issue of flooding with residents blaming housing developer RF More Properties for problems. Previously the company has denied claims that it failed to put in the correct drainage and foul water infrastructure.
However, it has recently accepted that it will take financial responsibility for works to resolve the problem under the supervision of Scottish Water who have engaged Alness-based Pat Munro to do some of the work.
Cllr Ken Gowans revealed that work is due to start to put right a number of areas in a bid to relieve or stop the flooding that has been particularly prevalent on Cloverfield Park and Meadowfield Park.
The developer has undertaken to carry out the required remedial works on foul water and surface water infrastructure that will then be inspected by Scottish Water to ensure that all remedial works are completed to the required standards.
Once all that is done, the so-called vesting process – the transfer of the assets – to Scottish Water will be completed.
Cllr Gowans said: “This is a major step forward for the residents in Wester Inshes.
"This has been a problem since I first became a councillor and not long after that I helped set up the new Wester Inshe Residents association to facilitate a single point of contact so we could deal with residents’ issues collectively.
“The progress that we have been able to announce this week will be a major comfort to all of those who own property in the area and have had to endure substandard infrastructure that caused severe and extensive flooding for over a decade. Not to mention all of the problems that that causes to people.
“It will improve confidence in the area in general with roads having to be dug up and my understanding from Scottish Water is we had incidents where drains were not even connected and there were significant deficits in the facilities provided.
"Ultimately, this work should have been satisfactorily completed at the beginning of the development and it is appalling that it has taken this long, more than a decade, where we were able to give real reassurance to residents that these issues will finally be resolved.
“This has been an exasperating process and at times we felt we were never going to get to this point. But there is no way that this could have been allowed to go on the way it had been with flooding being a regular occurrence.
“And it is only with the persistence of council officers and scottish water that we have reached where we are now, which is the beginning of the end. The projected works should take a couple of months over the summer and into August. And I am sure the residents will then breathe a sigh of relief.
“The council will then be in a position to adopt the roads, which it has not been in a position to do so.”
R F More was contacted for comment.
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