Drumdevan Road Flooding

Residents in Lochardil and the local community council will be given the chance next month to have their say on how they can work with the Council to avoid a repeat of the flooding that occurred at Drumdevan Road at the weekend.

Local Highland Councillor David Henderson and Inverness spokesman on Transport Environmental and Community Services issues, Norrie Donald, met officials today to discuss an action plan to alleviate problems at the flooding blackspot.

It was agreed that officials present an incident report, detailing the cause of the flooding, including bank erosion, and constrictions of the burn channel and action taken by the council and the fire brigade as well as the Council's response to telephone calls from residents.

A major flooding prevention scheme is planned for the South West Relief Channel which will prevent future flooding at Lochardil but as work may not start for two years, an action plan is required to identify short term alleviation measures.

Once the report is completed and possible alleviation measures are identified the intention is that Councillors and Council officials will call a meeting with residents to discuss the best way forward.

Councillor Henderson said he had been told that flooding had occurred as the result of the Lochardil Burn flooding into gardens, water flowing on to the street and ponding to a depth of a foot which had flooded the garages of two homes.

He was assured that gullies and drains had been cleared recently and this was not the cause of the flooding.

He said: "I fully appreciate the concern of local residents as this is not the first time this area has flooded.  Once the report is ready and some recommendations for alleviation identified we will be calling a meeting of the residents to talk things through.  Clearly, residents have a significant role to play as the burn flows through many of their gardens and I look forward to their constructive input."