Freuchie Flood Action Group

The Freuchie Mill culvert webcam has been replaced and is now operational. An additional infra-red illuminator has been installed to improve image quality during the hours of darkness. Higher quality lenses with a shorter focal length (wider view) are on order for the webcams to improve the image quality further. The Freuchie Mill road camera will be operation when the new lens have arrive and been fitted to the replacement webcam.

It has been necessary to rig up a temporary access method while the software is being developed to handle not only the webcam images but also a water level monitoring, logging and flood warning alarm system. Hopefully this can all be done before the really nasty weather rolls in and people can go about their business knowing they can keep tabs on the culvert level and be warned when it is getting dangerously high.

Future posts will go into this in more detail as the flood alarm and monitoring system takes shape.

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Freuchie Flood Action Group has just received video footage taken during the flood event in the early hours of the 13th August 2008.

Yet more graphic proof of why Kingdom Housing Association and the developers must ensure they get the flood prevention implementation correct on this site.

This new content will be sent off to Fife Council Development Services, Kingdom Housing Association and SEPA.

If you have trouble viewing the video try going directly to the video hosting website.

Technorati Tags: Fife Council, Fife Council Development Services, flood, flooding, Freuchie, Freuchie Flood Action Group, Kingdom Housing Association, SEPA

The Flood Risk Assessment (FRA) is now available on the Fife Council Planning website for the proposed Broomfield Place / Millburn Place affordable housing development. Check it out here.

First off the community is disappointed that we weren’t consulted on the FRA, especially as FFAG had made a request for local consultation. As a community we have built up extensive knowledge of the local water courses and areas that flood since August 2008.

We’re also disappointed that little consideration appears to have been given to the flood risk downstream of the development, especially so at Freuchie Mill. The FRA does not appear to demonstrate a key SEPA and planning principle of not making flooding worse elsewhere.

There is also some contradiction between the information contained within this report and the Freuchie Mill report done last year. We’ll be taking this up with Fife Council to gain insight to the true state of flood risk.

Finally, the flood prevention scheme being proposed brings welcome protection to properties around about the development site, including Broomfield Place, Church Street, Millburn Place and The Feus, but it may put Fortharfield, Shiels Avenue and Freuchie Mill Road at higher risk from flooding and almost certainly will bring more frequent and/or intense flooding to Freuchie Mill.

A follow-up objection response from FFAG has been sent into Fife Council Development Services. Should appear on the planning application website in a day or so.

One final thought: two “studies” (term is used in its most generic sense) have now been completed for Freuchie and both have revealed areas at high risk from flooding. How many more times must Freuchie experience flooding before a full flood study is carried out?

Technorati Tags: Broomfield Place, Fife Council, FFAG, flood, flooding, Fortharfield, Freuchie, Freuchie Mill, Millburn Place, planning, SEPA, Shiels Avenue

Reading the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 doesn’t easily clear up all the timescales for delivery of the various steps required to comply with the Act and ultimately when it is liable to bring real world flood prevention and protection measures to fruition. Surely there must be an easier way to find out the deliverables timescale rather than reading through and deciphering the Act? Yes, there is now. The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act Annual Report to Parliament 2009 has recently been published on the Scottish Government website, a report that appears to provide some of the outstanding answers being sought by flood survivors.

Date: 2016

Milestone: Publish implementation plans for delivering all measures set out in local flood risk management plans.

Lead: Local authorities

It is slightly alarming to see it could take until 2016 before local authorities publish their implementation plans. Gulp! Freuchie will undoubtedly have been hit by more flooding before this happens.

The intention is to lay a second commencement order in 2010 to bring into force Part 4 and the remaining sections of Part 6. In commencing Part 4, regulations setting out the transitional arrangements for transfer from the current statutory process for Flood Protection Schemes under the 1961 Act to the new process set out in the FRM Act will also be laid.

Part 4 of the Act relates to local authority powers to manage flood risk. Basically the local authorities gain all manner of new and strengthened powers and responsibilities for flooding in 2010.

In response to the long standing concerns surrounding the existing statutory process for Flood Protection Schemes, we are keen to allow local authorities to utilise the benefits of the new system as early as possible and without the need to go through a lengthy and complex period of transition.

Provision has been made to deliver flood improvements in a more timely fashion, but this will depend on your local authority pushing things along. In the meantime we need to push ahead under the old legislation and transitional arrangements – basically the outgoing regime that is no longer fit for purpose.

From 1 April 2008, funding of flood protection and coast protection schemes is not identified separately but the previous ring-fenced grant provision of £42 million in 2007-08 is rolled up in the General Capital Grant which is distributed to local authorities as part of the 3-year local government finance settlement covering the period 2008-11. The decision to substantially reduce ring-fencing was welcomed by COSLA and local government, and had no impact on the level of capital grant funding available to them. For 2009-10, local government was provided with a general capital grant of £462.64 million. The Scottish Government is continuing to deliver on its commitment to increase local authorities’ share of the Scottish Budget.

The report skirts around the issue of whether there has been increased spending on flood prevention since the change from ring fencing of funds to the Single Outcome Agreement. Going forward, a major worry has to be the potential for underfunding of flooding at local authority level. Councillors may well decide flooding is not a priority as the austerity cuts start to bite. Flood affected communities will have to lobby very hard to ensure councillors don’t make it impossible for flood officers to resource flood prevention and protection projects. Let’s hope we don’t hear Anne Robinson muttering, “Flooding… you are the weakest link!”

The Scottish Flood Forum (SFF) was set up in October 2008, with funding from the Scottish Government and the feedback received, from local authorities, community councils and individuals who have been flooded, on the services provided by SFF is very positive.

Freuchie Flood Action Group has the highest praise for the hard work and advice of Paul Hendy from the Scottish Flood Forum (SFF). We were the first flood action group to work with the SFF, a partnership that ensured Freuchie was well known by everyone that matters in the world of flooding! The commitment outlined in the report to extend the services available from the SFF is fabulous news for flood affected communities.

Elsewhere in the report, ongoing research and projects using Natural Flood Management (NFM) are mentioned. Developments in the flood warning service are welcome, but only become useful in Fife once the projects are rolled out Scotland wide.  The changes in areas of responsibility for the local authorities, Scottish Water, SEPA and other stakeholders are touched upon. A selection of large capital flood projects throughout Scotland are dealt with, but it is interesting to note the lack of information on any Fife projects currently underway!

Flood action groups and flood survivors will take a mixed bag from this report. In general it demonstrates good progress in dealing with flooding in Scotland.

Technorati Tags: Fife, flood, Flood Risk Management, flooding, Freuchie, Freuchie Flood Action Group, Scottish Flood Forum, Scottish Government, SFF

Fife Council completed the surface drainage works at Freuchie Mill last week. The C23 – Freuchie Mill Road – is once again open without restriction. The residents of Freuchie Mill and Freuchie Mill Road now await the first real test of this scheme with nervous anticipation.

Once again thank you to Cllr MacDiarmid for his assistance in getting Fife Council officers to recognise the urgency for such a scheme, to the officers for finding the funds and organising the project and to Bob and the rest of his road crew for the back breaking installation of the drainage scheme.

One major flooding source dealt with, only two more to go! This new scheme will once again make the undersized culvert and the water source coming through Freuchie Mill House the pinch points of greatest concern. It is only a matter of time before these two identified flood risks cause significant flooding again at Freuchie Mill.

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A little update on the Surface Drainage Improvement works being carried out at Freuchie Mill.

The scheme has taken a little longer than expected due to uncharted utilities and water seepage impacting on the second phase of the work. Fife Council has apologised for the delay. It is now anticipated that the substantial amount of the work should be completed by the 23rd April.

FFAG appreciates the care being taken to make this scheme work more effectively. An additional few weeks of construction time is nothing in comparison with the lifetime of improvement in flood protection it will bring. The disruption to local residents has been kept to an absolute minimum and we would like to thank everyone at Fife Council for their efforts to maintain resident access and their continued hard work at Freuchie Mill.

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For those of you following the proposed affordable homes development in the field to the east of Millburn Place, an important document from Scottish Water has been added that raises a number of new concerns. We will be highlighting these at next week’s community council meeting, but for everyone’s benefit let’s take a look at each of those in turn here:

1. Lack of Knowledge on Flood Risk

Should we become aware of any issues such as flooding, low pressure, etc the Developer will require to fund works to mitigate the effect of the development on existing customers.

Scottish Water can now be added, along with SEPA, as an organisation that does not know about the previous flooding issues with this site and the flood risk ever present. FFAG will be sharing our evidence of flooding with Scottish Water.

2. Water Network

Water Network – Our initial investigations have highlighted there may be a requirement for the Developer to carry out works on the local network to ensure there is no loss of service to existing
customers. The Developer should discuss the implications directly with Scottish Water.

What works may be required to maintain service to the existing and proposed homes?

3. Sewage Works

Freuchie Wastewater Treatment Works – at present there is limited capacity to serve this new demand. The Developer should discuss their development directly with Scottish Water.

Wastewater Network – Our initial investigations have highlighted there may be a requirement for the Developer to carry out works on the local network to ensure there is no loss of service to existing customers. The Developer should discuss the implications directly with Scottish Water.

Does this mean we could be at risk of sewer flooding or discharge of untreated waste into the Pittilock Burn if additional investment isn’t forthcoming to the local treatment works?

4. Surface Water Drainage

A totally separate drainage system will be required with the surface water discharging to a suitable outlet. Scottish Water requires a sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) as detailed in Sewers for Scotland 2 if the system is to be considered for adoption.

There is a definite requirement to better understand how surface runoff is currently handled at this location. The lack of capacity to handle existing levels of runoff and land drainage that is passed onto the infrastructure at Freuchie Mill is already well documented and makes the adjacent drainage ditch an unsuitable location to dump surface water drainage. There is no other suitable outlet in our opinion.

It is also worth pointing out that SUDS is not a flood prevention measure.

5. Existing Infrastructure

It is possible this proposed development may involve building over or obstruct access to existing Scottish Water infrastructure. On receipt of an application Scottish Water will provide advice that will require to be implemented by the developer to protect our existing apparatus.

What possible infrastructure and what are the implication of the development upon these current assets?

It is heartening to see such a professional evaluation on the possible impact of the development on Scottish Water assets and the effect it may have on existing residents.

Technorati Tags: flooding, Freuchie, Freuchie Community Council, Freuchie Flood Action Group, Freuchie Mill, Kingdom Housing, Millburn Place, Scottish Water, surface drainage, SUDS, waste water

Residents throughout Freuchie are now on flood watch as water courses continue to rise due to the rain and snow falling on Fife.

SEPA has issued an alarming number of flood warnings throughout Scotland, including Fife and Clackmannanshire rivers.

This statement was prepared on 30 March 2010 at 4:24 pm.

A FLOOD WATCH has been issued for Fife and Clackmannanshire rivers.

Heavy rainfall and some snow is expected throughout Tuesday evening and into Wednesday for Fife and Clackmannanshire. Rivers are rising and localised flooding can be expected. Further updates will appear here as more information becomes available.

This FLOOD WATCH is now in force until further notice.

Concerned Freuchie residents have started to move their cars to areas of safety and items of value have been lifted above the flood level of August 2008. Flood defences are either primed or fully deployed in preparation for possible flooding.

Unfortunately this weather is forecast to be with us throughout tomorrow, with some forecasting services showing it to last into Thursday!

Technorati Tags: Fife, flood, flood watch, flooding, Freuchie, Scotland, SEPA

This just in from Fife Council with thanks to Cllr David MacDiarmid for sending it on.

THE FIFE COUNCIL (C23 FREUCHIE MILL)

(TEMPORARY PROHIBITION OF USE) ORDER 2010

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that The Fife Council have made an Order under section 14(1)(a) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 continuing to prohibit the use by vehicular traffic of the C23 Freuchie Mill from its junction with the A92(T) to its junction with the A914.

The purpose of the Order is to allow the installation of surface water drainage to be carried out in safety. The effect of the Order will be to continue the closure of the said length of road until 12th April, 2010 or until earlier completion of the works.

The alternative route for through traffic will be via the A92(T), New Inn roundabout and the A914.

Access for emergency service vehicles and pedestrians will be maintained.

Any queries regarding this Notice should be directed to Lynne Lees, Legal Services, Fife House, North Street, Glenrothes, Fife KY7 5LT.

Iain A. Matheson, Chief Legal Officer 2nd April, 2010

Technorati Tags: Fife, Fife Council, Freuchie, Freuchie Mill, road closure

Cllr David MacDiarmid, John A Thomson (Chairman of Freuchie Flood Action Group) and Freuchie Mill resident Claire Morgan were interviewed and photographer today by The Courier about the surface drainage works currently underway on Freuchie Mill Road.  The news article should be in tomorrow’s newspaper and we highly recommend getting yourself a copy!

Photo: Cllr MacDiarmid and Claire Morgan 

Fife Council workmen have made significant progress over the last few days. Keep up the good work guys.

Technorati Tags: Claire Morgan, Cllr David MacDiarmid, Courier, Fife, Fife Council, Freuchie, Freuchie Mill, Freuchie Mill Road