Broughty Community Council December Meeting

Last night I attended the regular monthly meeting of Broughty Ferry Community Council. Each month there is an opportunity for elected members to report to the Community Council. Here is a summary of my report which covers October and November as there was no time for these reports at the November meeting.

Permanent Repair to Sewage Pipe Under the Beach
In early November I had a meeting with Scottish Water and Violia about their making a permanent repair to the  leaking sewage pipe under the beach now that their temporary repair appears to be effective. They have committed to a comprehensive repair following an options appraisal and gaining the necessary permissions. The likely timescale for the permanent repair is 6-8 months.

Coastal Flood Risk and Protection
In November Councillors have had a briefing from staff from the City Development Department, SEPA and consultants who had undertaken a study on rising sea levels and coastal flooding. This will be going to Committee in February or March. Over the next few year there will be a process of selecting priority works to enhance coastal protection with some potential funding from the Scottish Government.

Coastal Walkway
On Monday, preparations on site have begun on the contract to upgrade the last section of the raised walkway between Grassy Beach and Douglas Terrace.

Biomass Plant

The Environment Department have recently confirmed that they are having a meeting later this month with Forth Energy (Scottish Power and Forth Ports Partnership) to hear an update about the air quality assessment in connection with the Biomass Planning Application. This assessment is be published by the section of the Scottish Government dealing with the assessment of the proposed biomass power plants in due course.

Anton Drive Retaining Wall

On Monday the contract for the building of the replacement retaining wall in Anton Drive is coming up for approval at a cost just exceeding £94,144. The proposed new wall will be built beside the current wall using modular timber crib blocks by PHI Group. 

Broughty Ferry Community Council meet in the Library on Queen Street on the first Tuesday of each month except August. Its meetings begin at 7pm and conclude by 8:45pm. As Tuesday 1st January is a public holiday, the next meeting of the Community Council will be held on Tuesday 5 February 2013.

Scottish Water Commits to Permanent Repair of Sewage Pipe Under Broughty Ferry Beach

Last week, I met a senior engineer from Scottish Water for a site meeting on Douglas Terrace about the sewage leak on the beach, which I had first identified and reported to them at the beginning of October. This sewage pipe runs under the beach and close to the end of the raised walkway from Grassy Beach to Douglas Terrace. Out on my daily dog walk in last month, I could clearly see foul water leaking form the side of the concrete chamber which is buried in the beach with just the top protruding above the beach level. 

After two repair attempts, the visible flow has been stopped. At low tide you can see what amounts to a rather ugly repair with splodges of concrete lining the top of the junction chamber. The engineer from Scottish Water and a Manager from Veolia Water, the maintenance contractor, confirmed that it's a difficult site where they can only work in the few hours either side of low tide.

At our meeting, I was assured that what had been done was indeed a temporary repair.  I impressed on them the importance of making a permanent repair to the pipe. I was pleased to learn that an options appraisal is underway and that when the necessary permissions have been granted there will be a comprehensive replacement. This will need to be carefully planned because, while the old chamber and pipe is being dug up and replaced, a temporary bypass will need to be set up to divert the constant sewage and drainage water that flows down the pipe. They predicted a likely timescale of 6 months before the necessary permissions and contracts were in place and the more permanent repair is undertaken.

In the meanwhile, Violia staff are committed to monitoring the site to check for any new leaks breaking out and repairing these. I will also be keeping an eye on the site as I walk by every morning.

I have also written to the City Engineer to ask him to liaise with Scottish Water on the timing for the replacement of this length of sewer so that this does not clash with the the upgrading of the coastal pathway as both operations will require access to the beach down the same slipway.