‘Petrif ied’ pensioners’ f lood works nightmare
OUTRAGED pensioners are ‘petrified’ of losing their house after their back garden was turned into a building site.
Residents in Stonehaven are all too aware of the flooding dangers of the Kincardineshire town’s River Carron.
But construction works designed to ease the problem, which has caused thousands of pounds worth of water damage in the past, have brought their own problems.
Aberdeenshire Council approved funding for the scheme, which was subject to an extensive public consultation, in September 2014.
It is designed to reduce the flood risk to 372 homes and a school close to the river.
However, Cynthia Leslie, 80, and husband Roddy, 89, claim that they have been fed a ‘load of blethers’ by the council over how badly affected their riverside garden would be.
And bungling contractors have caused widespread damage to their property – with two large cracks appearing on outside walls, a broken shower drain and their daughter’s luxury cabin knocked down to make way for a flood wall.
They now fear their house may ‘slip’ due to the amount of displaced surrounding soil.
But council bosses claim work is taking place ‘as per the agreed plans’ that was communicated in advance of the workmen arriving in April.
They also claim there will be a ‘likefor-like’ replacement garden installed when work finishes.
However, Mr and Mrs Leslie, who bought the house 42 years ago, claim they were not expecting workmen doing 12-hour shifts – sometimes up to six days a week – just yards from their back door.
Mr Leslie said: ‘At no point from the outset have we been put in the picture as to how our properties were more or less taken over and turned into a building site.
‘The whole scheme has been flawed from the start. Although we’ve had an initial settlement for my daughter’s cabin, we need something else for loss of amenity.’
Mrs Leslie added: ‘The garden has been ripped to bits. It’s a huge, horrible site. They said they will put it back “like-for-like” – as if. The response from the council that they met with us and had our permissions – that’s a load of blethers.
‘All we got was a registered letter that we had to sign for at the door and it stated that they were coming to start work. We never knew the extent of this at all.
‘We were petrified on Friday that the corner of the house was going to slip into the river.’
Neighbour Liz Stuart has also suffered. Her husband Colin is a keen horticulturist and spent years putting rare plants in his garden which he had to remove at his own expense.
Mrs Stuart said: ‘It’s been horrendous. You never expect to feel so helpless in your own home.
‘They say we will be compensated but how can you compensate for the stress this has caused? You can’t put a price on that.’
Mr and Mrs Leslie’s daughter Mhari designed the cabin on her parents’ land in order to be close to them. But she had to scrap her plan to live there in order to accommodate the flood works.
An Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said: ‘The plans have been agreed for some time and discussed in detail with those affected.
‘We appreciate that some of the development is taking place close to properties but would stress that we have agreed in advance how these works will be conducted and will be reinstating garden space within the new boundaries once construction is complete.’
‘Garden has been ripped to bits’