Fury over £2m water project
A £2 million project to tackle flooding in a Prestwick street has come under fire from residents.
Bosses at Scottish Water have been forced to defend their scheme against claims they are on a ‘go slow’.
Vital works to upgrade sewers kicked off in January and have caused major disruption due to their complexity.
Now neighbours, who were told to expect a July finish, have been warned their street could be off limits for another two months.
Much of the town’s St Nicholas Road is currently zoned off for workmen with vehicle access blocked.
Resident Christopher Murchie said: “Nobody is complaining about the need for the job - we all accept it is important.
“But they have only three people working on a project of this size and the progress is really slow. At a time like this when government guidelines mean people are going to the supermarket once a week it means I need to stop at the end of the cordon and bring my shopping to my house by wheelbarrow.
“However, my neighbours are elderly and it’s not as easy for them.”
Christopher, 48, says one elderly resident has even found his car “locked” in his drive as work slowly progresses up the street.
He added: “One main problem is that 60 per cent of the blocked off area is just being used as a store to keep tons of stones and piles of pipes which just sit there unused for weeks on end.
“They have also had to send surveyors to every property in the street because of damage caused by the vibrations.
“We just feel that there has been a blatant disregard for the people living in the street.”
A spokesperson for Scottish Water said the major project was bidding to tackle sewer flooding which dates back almost 20 years in the town.
They said: “With any project of this type some disruption is inevitable.
“It involves the installation of a storm tank in Brandon Gardens which is around 40 metres by 10 metres in size to help provide extra storage capacity during heavy rainfall.
“At the same time, approximately 100 metres of upsized combined sewer pipe is being installed in phases along St Nicholas Road.
“At the beginning of the project, the team encountered some delays in other services being diverted.
“This impacted the programme of works and meant that the full road closure to enable the new sewer pipes to be installed was not in place until mid-March.
“Unforeseen complications such as uncharted services and extremely challenging ground conditions has caused further delays making progress slower than we expected.”
They added: “Unanticipated delays in material and plant procurement due to current shortages in the construction industry nationwide have added to delays.
“The number of workers on site will be increased at a time when the work lends itself to additional resources being present.
“As with any project of this nature, we have kept the local residents updated on our works, giving them prior notice of the project and any necessary restrictions.
“We would like to reassure everyone that all relevant permissions are in place for road closures and we have engaged with the emergency services beyond minimum required standards.
“We have also listened to local residents concerns and worked with them to address any issues and help minimise any disruption where possible.
“For example, we have enabled access to cars when necessary and we are assisting with refuse collections when required.
“We will continue to work with the residents and offer assistance where we can.”
There has been a blatant disregard for people.”