Probe into the second sewage leak in Dunblane

An investigation has been launched after a second sewage leak in Dunblane in as many weeks.

The sewage leak on Old Doune Road in the town forced primary and high school pupils to tread over the material for nine days and comes on the back of a recent similar leak on Argyle Way.

The Old Doune Road leak was first reported at the end of last month, with Scottish Water officials confirming that the repair works were set to finally be completed on Monday and the road fully reinstated.

The latest leak has provoked a furious response from the town’s community council who have complained to Scottish Water over the pair of incidents and the response to them.

A spokesperson for the community council said:“dunblane Community Council are yet again very disappointed with Scottish Water’s woeful response to the sewage outbreak on Old Doune Road over the last two weeks.

“Yet again, they were slow to respond and slow to take action. This resulted in both primary and high school pupils walking through the outbreak on their way to school for seven school days in total.

“No warning signs were put up by Scottish Water, neither school was informed.

“We have made formal complaints to Scottish Water about both this incident and the incident on Argyle Way. These complaints are being pursued with vigour.”

Those criticisms have been backed up by Dunblane and Bridge of Allan councillor, Alasdair Tollemache - himself a former employee of Scottish Water for more than two decades.

The Green councillor said:“this is another example of Scottish Water failing to adequately respond to a sewage leak, this time on Old Doune Road in Dunblane.

“I reported this on behalf of the community on February 1. This took far too long to resolve and in consequence caused a health hazard for pupils walking to school.

“Scottish Water needs to be held to account for this dismal service.”

The Argyle Way leak was left unresolved for almost a month, with frustrations being aired by locals over a poor response to initial reports.

A Scottish Water spokesperson said:“there was a sewer defect in Old Doune Road caused by a third party pouring concrete nearby which managed to get into the sewer and block the pipe.

“We are sorry there were some issues with the timely processing of this work.

“A full investigation on the reasons for this delay has commenced and any lessons from that will be addressed in order to prevent a recurrence.

“We would like to thank customers and road users for their patience and understanding.”