A WARNING that Dingwall residents could face further flooding "heartache" was voiced this week with the go-ahead for another huge housing development above the town.
Two Highland councillors tried to halt plans for 121 serviced house plots on land at Drynie Farm, fearing it could exacerbate flooding in Dingwall, large parts of which was under water in the devastating deluge of 2006.
And in Dingwall, residents who have been flooded out as recently as last month greeted the planning permission approval with dismay.
Developer Souter and Armstrong has received planning consent for 121 new house plots on three fields at Drynie Farm, 25 per cent of which will be affordable properties.
However, the application – which was debated by Highland Council’s North planning applications committee in Inverness on Tuesday – was opposed by local members Margaret Paterson and Angela MacLean, who fear it could pose an increased risk of flooding for residents.
The fields are north of MacLeod Place, Ross Wynd and Neil Gunn Place, where flooding previously occurred in 2006.
But Councillor Paterson said she believed the approval could also have implications for the whole of Dingwall.
She told the North Star: "This could affect many areas of Dingwall further down. That’s why I am so concerned.
"I saw for myself the bad flooding that residents in Burns Crescent had already this year and I saw how distressed they were. It’s horrendous for them.
"There is no doubt we need more new housing – there are 400 on the waiting list – but it should not be at the cost of existing residents who are experiencing flooding every year and living in fear."
The Local Plan has identified the wider north area of Dingwall for 400 to 450 new homes in the next decade to meet demand for housing.
Julie Ferguson, the council’s area planning team leader for Dingwall, told Tuesday’s meeting she was well aware of the flood issues and had received 15 objections from 13 householders.
The council has installed drains on nearby Tulloch Lane and raised the road surface at the roundabout linking Ross Wynd and MacLeod Place to divert water.
Detailed flood risk assessments by consultants employed by the company were carried out and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency had also conducted extensive analysis.
Some 37 conditions were attached to the application but Cllr Paterson was deeply concerned about the risk of further flooding.
"I have witnessed the heartache of flooding in recent years so I really have to get some reassurance," she said.
However, she did not get that reassurance after the local authority’s principal engineer on the flood team, Martin Boshoff, said Dingwall was a flood risk area and there were three hotspots in the town. She voted against the application.
Cllr Paterson said: "I am still concerned about the flooding. I have major concerns. Houses have been flooded before not once or twice but three times."
Fellow ward councillor Angela MacLean shared similar views about flooding and pointed out that the site was on the top of a hill.
Another town councillor, committee chairman David Chisholm said he understood the concerns about flooding and potential impact on others but was reassured by the work put in by officials and other organisations in assessing the application which prompted him to back the plans.
Dingwall Community Council did not object but said it was concerned about the flooding risk from the homes, which will be built in eight phases.
Local resident Garry Fraser, of Burns Crescent, said he was disappointed by the decision. His family home is still being repaired after being flooded last month.
Mr Fraser, a local electrician, said: "When the new Dingwall Academy was built we were told the flood risk was once in 100 years, yet Burns Crescent has flooded twice in two months. We’re flooded every year now.
"The council can come up with as many models as they like but they are obviously not working. The flooding is getting worse, and the new houses above the town haven’t even been built yet.
"I totally object to any more house building until they can get a proper drainage system sorted out."
