Inverness East flood update
Over 80 people attended a public exhibition and meeting last night at Culloden Academy, Inverness to hear updates from The Highland Council on flooding and flood alleviation in East Inverness.
Chaired by Provost Jimmy Gray, Chairman of the Council’s Inverness City Committee, the meeting was a follow-up to an earlier meeting held on 18 August at which the Council gave a commitment to establish the causes of local flooding and to examine options to reduce future flood risk.
Provost Gray thanked members of the public who had been in contact with the Council’s Flood Team over the past three months and explained that the Council had been working with other key agencies including SEPA; Scottish water; Forestry Commission Scotland, the Scottish Flood Forum and local landowners.
He said: “We have adopted a partnership approach to look at the problems and identify solutions. Some measures to reduce future flood risk have already been put in place; however the more major works will take longer. This is an ongoing process and further work needs to be done. We will continue to consult with locals throughout the process.”
Representatives from the Council’s Transport Environmental and Community (TEC) Services, and Planning and Development Service; Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA); Forestry Commission (Scotland) and Scottish Flood Forum were in attendance to answer questions posed by members of the public.
Neil Gillies, Highland Council’s Director of TEC Services gave an update on the interim findings of a study carried out by JBA Consulting who have been contracted by the Council to review the area to the east of the A9. In his presentation Mr Gillies outlined the immediate remedial measures that have been taken by the Council on the three drainage systems of Tower Burn, Smithton Burn and Culloden Burn West (locally known as Red Burn). He also informed attendees of the early warning depth monitor and CCTV camera that had been installed on Tower Burn and how members of the public could view this on the internet by visiting http://www.timeview2.net/ and accessing it with the user name: Highland Public, and password: 1234. A depth monitor has also been installed on Smithton Burn.
Stuart Black, Highland Council’s Director of Planning and Development informed attendees that the Council was currently consulting on the draft “Interim Supplementary Guidance: Flood Risk and Drainage Impact Assessment” and urged anyone interested to submit their comments by the consultation deadline of 2 December 2011to devplans@highland.gov.uk. He also explained the requirement on developers during the planning application process to produce Flood Risk Assessments and Drainage Impact Assessments for the development proposals.
A new information booklet published by The Highland Council titled “Managing Flood Risk in the Highlands” - was made available at the meeting – and is also on the Council’s website at http://www.highland.gov.uk/flooding.htm. This guidance explains the Council’s requirements for Flood Risk Assessments and Drainage Impact Assessments and sets a higher standard on the quality of information provided.
Andy Low, Hydrometry Area Manager North West with SEPA indicated that the Smithton and Culloden area had recently been designated as a Potentially Vulnerable Area. SEPA has identified these areas, based on the National Flood Risk Assessment and through public consultation, where the scale of potential flood impacts is sufficient to justify further strategic, national planning. These areas will be the focus for Flood Risk Management Strategies and Local Flood Risk Management Plans. Mr Low urged anyone with concerns about flooding to register with the SEPA Floodline Service to receive flood alerts and warnings by calling 0845 988 1188 or by registering online at www.sepa.org.uk/floodingsignup.
Following the presentations members of the public raised questions with the panel of officials, and offered additional information from their local knowledge.
Provost Gray thanked all attending the meeting and gave assurance that a further meeting would be organised after the final findings of JBA Consultants report were published and the Council would prepare a programme of flood reduction measures for the area within the budgetary capabilities of The Highland Council.