Firm denies drain claim
AN INVERNESS builder has hit back at claims his work on a city housing estate was not up to standard.
A Highland Council investigation is under way to find out why a £460,000 road bond was returned to RF More Properties amid claims flood alleviation work had not been carried out, leaving water running on to roads in Wester Inshes where 90 new homes and associated roads were built.
But a spokesman acting on behalf of the developer has blamed the local authority, saying it is the nearby fields, owned by the council, which are prone to flooding.
“They handed the money back to Mr More because there was nothing wrong with the work,” he said. “Residents complained and quite properly because of the flooding, but that is not the responsibilty of Mr More.”
“The fields next to the road, which are owned by the council, fill up with water which then runs on to the roads in the development but there is nothing Mr More can do about that.
“I have been trying for quite some time to get Highland Council to fit gullies but they are not doing it so it is them who are allowing the water to go into the development and the poor folk in Wester Inshes to get flooded.”
The majority of the £475,000 bond was returned after the houses were built 10 years ago, leaving just £15,000, but residents claim the problems have stemmed from the developer’s failure to complete and landscape community land, including a children’s play area.
They have also complained about sharp stones and rubble just below the surface of amenity areas, as well as poor drainage and a lack of maintenance.
The worst of the flooding occurs at Cloverfield Park and Meadowfield Park.
Highland Council confirmed an audit review is still underway but denied responsibility for flood alleviation.
A spokeswoman said: “The roads, drainage and the sustainable drainage systems features are still in private ownership (not vested by Highland Council or Scottish Water) and therefore remain the responsibility of RF More. We can confirm that an audit review has been instigated and the matter is being reviewed.”
Councillor Graham Phillips, vice-chairman of the audit and scrutiny committee which launched the investigation, hopes tighter rules will be put in place to stop bonds being returned until work has been completed to a high standard, but this is unlikely to help the Wester Inshes residents who have already suffered.
“We are now investigating the manner in which the bond was returned so that in the long-term we can make sure a rigorous procedure is followed to make sure this does not happen again because clearly it was not rigorous enough on this occasion,” he said.
At the time Councillor Phillips was chairman of the now-defunct transport, environmental and community services council department.
“There were constant complaints from the residents at the time saying work had not been done or had not been done to the appropriate standard.
“At the time I was at a loss as to why the bond had been returned by officers but at the time my main focus was trying to get officers to take action on drainage repairs to help the residents.
“I hope the review sheds some light on the issue so we can introduce practices to stop it happening again.”
