Forres residents meet Scottish Water representatives to discuss repeat flooding in the town

A SCOTTISH Water representative met with local Moray Councillors and Forres residents to discuss repeat, historic floods in the town.

Corporate affairs manager Gavin Steel and councillors Lorna Creswell and George Alexander organised the meeting at the Tolbooth for those affected by flash flooding to describe it in person.

Mr Steel said: “The meeting enabled open discussion about the challenges of surface water and sewer flooding. Significant work has been carried out over recent years to build better understanding of the drainage networks butt there are few quick or easy solutions. The long term approach is to find ways to manage surface water sustainably so that it does not rapidly enter and overwhelm combined sewers. The meeting also provided an opportunity to review the response to flooding events,including the storm that hit Forres last year.”

Heavy rainfall on Tuesday, July 27 led to parts of the local drainage network becoming overwhelmed, causing roads and homes to flood.

Under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, Moray Council is working with other agencies to reduce flood risk. As part of the Flood Risk Management Planning process, Scottish Water undertook modelling of the Forres drainage network. The local authority will use the results with data on historic flooding to develop a new Surface Water Management Plan.

Mr Steel said: “Scottish Water will continue to work closely with Moray Council to support its development and explore opportunities identified. Widespread, intense rainstorms present a significant challenge to our local customer service teams but we are committed to learning from incidents and improving how we respond. We will do all we can to attend and assist customers with clean-up, prioritising those in greatest need.”

Orchard Road, Drip Road and Councillors Walk are often flooded, usually during the summer months.

Councillors Walk resident and AJ Engineering managing director, Alan James, was affected by the floods of last summer - he felt the meeting went reasonably well.

He said: “Scottish Water confirmed they will attend to clean up the debris provided that they are informed by residents. The more calls logged the more consideration might be given to accelerate long-term remedial works.”

“Unfortunately they also confirmed that due to financial restrictions, no civil engineering works are planned to finally alleviate the problems. Problems will continue for years to come unless specific funds are made available to carry out the actions determined by the Surface Water Management Plan.”

Forres Community Council member and fellow meeting attendee, John Innes, lives near the roundabout at South Street/Tolbooth Street/Orchard Road.

He said: “It’s good that agencies are coming together to address the drains not coping. They’ve identified the low areas and properties in most danger which include on Tolbooth Street and Bank Lane. They are are going to contact householders and provide advice on protecting properties. I’m glad they’ve acknowledged that things can be dealt with better and that improvements will be made.”

Cllr Creswell (Forres, Independent) was pleased to see residents being listened to in-person.

She said: “There will need to be major investment to deal with the issues. Internal flooding is a priority so we can press onwards with that and deal with surface water.”

Finally, cllr Alexander (Forres, Independent) also thought the meeting went well.

He said: “The attention of Scottish Water officers to flooding in Forres has been very much highlighted. Hopefully we will see some improvement as a result.”

Wherever customers are affected by flooding from the sewer network, inside or outside their homes, contact Scottish Water on 0800 077 8778 or via https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/your-home/your-waste-water/sewer-flooding/report-sewer-flooding