Following flooding in the West of Scotland over the last few days, Paul Hendy of the Scottish Flood Forum was interviewed by David MacKay on Scotland Tonight.

Do you agree or disagree with the comments made by Paul?

It is becoming increasingly clear that years of underinvestment by local authorities and Scottish Water need to be scrutinised from a flooding viewpoint. Both should and must do more in the coming years as the statutory duties of the Flood Risk Management Scotland Act 2009 come fully into force.

Our experience with Fife Council has seen a massive improvement in the way they deal with flooding over the last three years. The flood officers are taking their duties extremely seriously, working hard behind the scenes to do as much as possible. Unfortunately the budget they are given is no where near enough!

Many properties were built on sites where flooding was either not considered or the development was allowed to take place as long as it appeared to meet a 1 in 30 year flood return period. Thankfully the building standards of today insist on at least 1 in 200 years and it is now common for a Flood Risk Assessment to be performed in areas at risk of flooding.

SEPA has impressed FFAG over the last few years as they carefully consider flooding issues and planning applications. They’ve saved the community from worse flooding on more than one occasion.

Whilst out and about yesterday, we spotted a manhole cover was missing, most probably stolen. The manhole in question was installed by Fife Council last year as part of the new Freuchie Mill Road surface drainage improvement scheme. This is a disgraceful theft of important infrastructure.

Photo: Missing manhole cover at Freuchie Mill Road

Fife Council Transportation Services was immediately made aware of this issue and should be dealing with it promptly. Yet again the poor taxpayer has to pick up the bill.

A Freuchie Mill resident has just informed us the theft occurred sometime between Thursday evening and Friday morning. He tried to report the missing manhole cover to Fife Council only to be told it was Scottish Waters’ responsibility, who he subsequently telephoned. FFAG has asked Fife Council to clarify who is actually responsible for this surface drainage scheme.

Let us be clear to thieves that Freuchie residents will call out the Police to investigate any suspicious individual milling about or in the  act of committing a criminal offence.

Residents of Freuchie who use the old county road / track down to the Kettle Produce plant should take care not to fall into this danger. It’s probably wise to keep a tight lead on your dogs as you go past.

This incident will be reported on at the Freuchie Community Council meeting held tonight at 7:30pm in the Lumsden Hall.

UPDATE
Fife Council has promptly confirmed the drainage scheme is their responsibility. Looks like someone needs to tell the telephone call handlers .

Fife Council has now made the site safe by placing a pallet over the manhole chamber and putting a couple of road cones on top. Hopefully it won’t be too long before this temporary measure is replaced by something permanent and more secure.

A thanks goes to Fife Council for the prompt action.

A police officer from Cupar Police Station has been out to look over the crime scene and to take a statement.

Technorati Tags: Cupar, Fife, Fife Council, Freuchie, Freuchie Mill Road, police, Scottish Water

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

Scottish Water came out this evening to repair the water mains damaged by Fife Council earlier today. The repair crew were courteous, professional and dealt with the repair in an efficient and timely manner. When it was pointed out that the chicken farm had no water, which was a threat to the survival of the 22,500 birds, the crew escalated the repair and had the water main turned off within minutes. They proceeded quickly to expose and repair the damaged section of pipe, flush the line and resume normal service for the affected consumers. 

Let’s look over the damage and repair by way of photos…

   
Photos: Scottish Water expose the damaged section of water main

 
Photos: Damaged water main

 
Photos: New section being fitted and water main being flushed out

On behalf of Freuchie Flood Action Group and the businesses and residents of Freuchie affected by this water main damage we would like to thank the Scottish Water team for their excellent service. 

John A Thomson, Chairman of FFAG, has put the team forward for a Scottish Water GEM Award for their service this evening. Hopefully their excellence will be acknowledged as they are a credit to Scottish Water.

Technorati Tags: FFAG, Fife, Fife Council, Freuchie, Freuchie Flood Action Group, GEM Award, John A Thomson, Scottish Water, water main

Unfortunately Fife Council has went through the water main on Freuchie Mill Road whilst working on the Surface Drainage Improvement Scheme. This has resulted in low water pressure for residents in Freuchie Mill. As most of the properties will have a modern combination or condensing boiler, it is unlikely there will be enough water pressure to get hot water. Your heating system is a closed loop system so it should still be working without any problem. 

 
Photo: Water cascading down Freuchie Mill Road from the damaged water main 

 
Photo: Location of burst water main and first gulley in position 

Scottish Water has been out to assess the damage. A repair crew is currently repairing another burst water main down in Inverkeithing. They will be directed to Freuchie Mill Road as their next job, which will be at some point later this evening. Everyone should have normal water pressure soon.

Technorati Tags: Fife, Fife Council, Freuchie, Freuchie Mill, Freuchie Mill Road, Inverkeithing, Scottish Water

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Bill Stage 1 debate occurred yesterday in the Scottish Parliament with all party support. A video of the debate is available on the Scottish Parliament website, but be warned it last for about two hours! Likewise, a transcript of the debate is available from TheyWorkForYou.com.

The debate was opened by Richard Lochhead  MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Minister of the Environment, with an interesting statement:

“This Bill represents the most comprehensive modernisation of flood risk management in Scotland for over 40 years. It is a co-ordinated approach which will deliver flood management at a catchment scale, allowing local authorities and others to take the best possible approach to managing flooding in their area.”

A very good summary up of what is needed by way of betterment in dealing with flood risk management and prevention and protection. 

Some interesting snippets from the Scottish Government press release:

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament on September 30, 2008. It will streamline and speed up the development and implementation of flood risk management measures, introduce a more sustainable and modern approach to flood risk management and create a more joined up and co-ordinated process to flood risk management throughout Scotland.

Specific measures in the Bill include:

• A framework for coordination and cooperation between all organisations involved in flood risk management
• Assessment of flood risk and preparation of flood risk management plans
• New responsibilities for SEPA, Scottish Water and local authority functions for flood risk management
• A revised, streamlined process for flood risk management measures
• New methods to enable stakeholders and the public to contribute to managing flood risk

The first and last bullet points are of great interest to flood affected communities as it enshrines in law the involvement of all stakeholders when look at flooding issues. In the past many flood victims and affected communities have felt disenfranchised from the processes and systems that deliver flood management improvements. The community of Freuchie has already been working on the approach suggested in the Bill with the setting up of Freuchie Flood Action Group (FFAG) that cooperates closely with Freuchie Community Council. Additionally, we are currently exploring ways to improve communications and relationships with Fife Council in the spirit of the Bill. FFAG also has many specialist advisors onboard to provide information and advice related to the flooding of Freuchie and flood prevention and protection. Least we forget, even top politicians have been engaged so that our experience can be fed back to government; we’re looking forward to Mike Russell MSP, Minister for the Environment, coming to see us.

Roseanna Cunningham MSP, Convenor of the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, pointed out that there appeared to be a culture of hard solutions amongst existing professionals. The new Bill makes it a requirements that natural sustainable flood management techniques are considered for all flood alleviation schemes. However, local authorities are still able to pass over natural sustainable solutions in favour of hard engineer where it is shown to be appropriate. Freuchie appears to be a good case for a hybrid approach, utilising the best of the natural sustainable approach and hard engineering to protect the community.

Liam McArthur MSP, reflected on evidence given by Jim Moodie to the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee on the 10th December 2008:

“Jim Moodie from Fife Council, who made quite an impression on the committee, as I recall, referring to the lack of interim arrangements suggested that this was quote,

‘A concern because there is nothing in the Bill to say that councils have to do anything until the management plans are in place.’

I accept that it would be a foolish, if not to say a short lived council administration that would sit on its hands and do nothing in the face of a demonstrable flood risk in its area. Never the less, I hope the Minister will accept the need to clarify the position regarding interim arrangements.”

Credit should be given to Mr Moodie for identifying and highlighting potential issues with the Bill at a stage when the deficiency can be corrected.

He went on to touch upon funding, returning again to quote from Mr Moodie’s evidence,

“The lack of a clear funding mechanism will mean that many schemes will not be delivered at all because funding will be allocated to what councils consider to be other priorities. He added, rather courageously perhaps, that our budgets are defined by accountants and asset management people who are not directly affected by flood prevention measures or functions. Mr Moodie doubtless had his work cut out in making his peace with colleagues once back across the bridge that afternoon, but his candor did suggest that assurances from Ministers about flood funding may still fall upon deaf ears.”

Bravo to Mr Moodie for fighting the flood funding corner. It is vital to ensure funds for flooding don’t end up being spent on other more populist priorities by local authorities. There looks to be a case for the accountants and asset managers to be independently briefed on flooding and the long term effects it has on communities. They would certainly benefit from a presentation by Paul Hendy of the Scottish Flood Forum.

Mr Moodie’s oral evidence can be viewed online – it is approximately 33 minutes in on this video recorded at the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee Flood Bill evidence session on the 10th Dec 2008.

Further details and Stage 1 reports are available from the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Bill committee webpage. The response by the ABI is particularly encouraging. More videos are available to view from the other evidence sessions for stage 1 of the Bill.

The Scottish Government appear to be driving flooding in the right direction and should be praised for such an enlightened and world leading approach. A significant step is the suggested addition of the word “sustainable” on the face of the bill in stage 2, which demonstrates the focus on a sustainable flood management approach.

A final alarming statistic from the press release:

According to MET Office records, going back to 1914, the summers of 2007 and 2008 were the wettest consecutive summers on record for the East and West of Scotland.

Let’s hope 2009 sees this alarming news being turned around in our favour. Jim Mullen, Vice Chairman of FFAG, presented similar findings to a public meeting a few months back based on SEPA rainfall data.

Technorati Tags: ABI, Fife Council, flooding, Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Bill, Freuchie, Freuchie Community Council, Freuchie Flood Action Group, Jim Moodie, Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, Scottish Flood Forum, Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament, Scottish Water, SEPA