by Cllr Ashley Graczyk of Sighthill/Gorgie Ward
This mess must be sorted out – and soon says the local councillor who also provided us with the photos below.
Recently, I have received many complaints, including photos and videos, from residents in Longstone and Redhall area regarding the flooding at Redhall Park from burst sewage and water mains pipes.
I went to Redhall Park to see for myself and was absolutely horrified at what I saw. Literally half of our well-loved park is flooded with very large and dark swampy patches from months of water and sewage gushing out of the drain into our park grounds. The stench was absolutely awful, I was literally gagging.
Many local residents have told me they have reported many times to Scottish Water who then claimed it was The City of Edinburgh Council’s responsibility, meanwhile when the Council was contacted they would claim it is Scottish Water’s responsibility. Scottish Water is responsible for the sewage drains and water mains pipes, and the council is responsible for the gullies.”
The main issue that really needs to be addressed is that The City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Water are going to have to put in some kind of procedure in place for when there is a disagreement on who has ultimate responsibility, so there is a body who can ultimately decide which public organisation is responsible.
As it is not fair to expect local constituents to be given the runaround when they contact either of them who then say it is the other’s responsibility. This passing the buck between two public organisations is why the flooding at Redhall Park has still not been addressed after months of reporting by many local constituents. I have experienced the exact same thing and it makes it very confusing for everyone.
What also concerns me is, when you see the site and experience the absolutely awful stench, how on earth is this flooding not considered an emergency by Scottish Water and the council? Also, how on earth is just laying a few sandbags and leaving a sewage drain half open supposed to help? It is utterly unacceptable that the flooding has been allowed to continue for months.
It is that bad, I’m already aware of a local football club that was forced to move from the pitch area they regularly train at to ensure that they will not be in the mess. There were also dog walkers avoiding this area.
Immediate action must be taken to address the months of water which has been allowed to pump into our public park ground, and is turning our well-loved and well-used park into a massive swampy ground before it is potentially rendered inaccessible to the public and a potential public health risk.
Longstone Community Council are also fed up waiting for someone to take responsibility. They tweeted: “Utterly disgraceful our local park has been allowed to degenerate into a stinking swamp. This is utterly shameful for all concerned. Someone needs to get a grip of this quickly. It’s been like this for weeks now.”
A local resident provided this video:
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