Council criticised for late floodgate decision 'excuses'

A Perth bowling club flooded in recent heavy rain has criticised "finger pointing" over a delay in closing the North Inch floodgates.

Perth and Kinross Council said it was told about increased waterflow on Saturday evening but there was no risk of flooding.

It said water levels surged unexpectedly overnight and it was unable to close one of the floodgates.

The Bell's Sports Centre and basement flats and businesses were affected.

North Inch Bowling Club was one of the businesses flooded.

Club secretary James Kellie said he believed it was "totally inaccurate" to say there was not enough warning to close the floodgates.

He said: "They've spent £26m on this flood prevention scheme and it's failed miserably.

"The question is, who's going to take liability? No one at the moment is saying, it's my fault, they're all finger-pointing to someone else."

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said the bad weather was forecast well in advance.

Barbara Renton, the council's executive director of communities, said Perth's flood prevention scheme had protocols in place for closing floodgates, mainly based on river flow and tides data.

She said the council was in dialogue with Sepa over the weekend.

Mr Kellie said: "Why weren't the floodgates shut at the North Inch when they were closed on Friday at the South Inch?

"All we're getting is a list of excuses. The damage has been done."

In a statement issued on Friday, Ms Renton said: "On Saturday evening, 90 minutes before high tide, the council were advised of an increase in waterflow.

"The timing meant that resources could not be mobilised to safely close the floodgates ahead of high tide that evening.

"A visual inspection of levels was carried out, however, which confirmed that there was no risk of flooding from the river at that time."

Ms Renton said further consultation took place with Sepa at 00:30 on Sunday.

She said: "At that point the data modelling indicated that the river flow on Sunday would remain the same as was, but with a drop in the expected level of the high tide.

"A risk-based decision was therefore taken to close the floodgates on Sunday morning, well before the next high tide in the early afternoon."

She said water levels surged rapidly and the council was alerted by Sepa shortly before 05:15.

Ms Renton said: "At that point all available officers were remobilised to close floodgates.

"The order in which the floodgates were closed was again based on an assessment of risk by experienced officers.

"Unfortunately, because of the water level on the North Inch, officers were unable to close one of the floodgates."

Ms Renton said the council had raised concerns about the timing of information sharing on water flow and flood levels during the incident.

She said the authority understood the frustration of those affected and was reviewing its actions in relation to the flood prevention scheme.

She said: "This will also include examination of external factors which had a potential impact, not least, the reason for the unexpected surge in waterflow notified to us in the early hours of Sunday.

"Further potential areas include drainage issues, surface flooding, ground saturation levels and rainfall."

Lin Bunten, acting chief executive at Sepa, said it began warning public partners, including Perth and Kinross Council, of potential flooding on Wednesday 4 October in its daily flood guidance statements.

She added that on Friday 6 October, a flood alert covering the region was issued - a Met Office Amber weather warning for heavy rain was already in place - and a major incident was declared by Police Scotland.

"Through Saturday 7th October, these messages were updated and repeated with partners," she said. "In addition to this, on Sunday 8 October at 6.34am, a local flood warning for the specific area was issued, several hours before the flooding impacts occurred.

"A full debrief with partners will take place in due course, as is standard practice. In the meantime, Sepa remains fully committed to helping communities and responders plan and prepare for future flood events."

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