THE BLAME for the failure of the flood prevention scheme at Milnathort has been switched to its builders, Arup Scotland.

Dawn Ramage, secretary of Milnathort Flood Action Group, last night said this is the feeling of residents following Wednesday’s meeting with members of Perth and Kinross Council.

Mrs Ramage, who has owned properties in South Street, has previously said legal action will be taken against the council for the failure of the £500,000 flood prevention scheme. But she thinks it would be more advisable for them not to let matters get that far.

“The council said that the flood prevention scheme is completely flawed,” she said. “We were told that 40% of the capacity of the culvert at Wester Loan was touched by debris.

“Now there is a temporary wall there, but we have to wait for the redesign of this and the council expect us to believe that they are totally blameless.

“The council’s chief executive, Bernadette Malone, attended the meeting but she just fended us off.

“They are trying to put the blame solely on Arup but I don’t know legally how this would work if we were to take court action against them.

“Surely it makes more sense for the council to settle out-of-court.”

Mrs Ramage also criticised the way the meeting was held, including the stance taken by local councillor Willie Robertson.

“The council insisted that we have an independent chairman, and then we are told it is going to be Councillor Robertson,” she added.

“What was he doing? He should have been representing his constituents.

“And we also found out that members of Byzac Limited (the contractors of the flood scheme) were only told of the meeting at 3pm on Wednesday.

And they were briefed beforehand with Ms Malone about what they could talk about at the meeting.”

She continued, “We’ve heard that Elgin will be getting a £95 million flood prevention scheme, and this will include grants for flood-doors.

“One of our residents asked Perth and Kinross Council if he spent money on flood-doors would he get a retrospective payment and he was told this wouldn’t happen.

“These doors cost around £9500 each, which is a lot for an individual to pay.”