Residents have slammed South Ayrshire Council over its handling of flooding at a village playing field.
Dozens of neighbours, including those whose property has been flooded as a result of the work, attended a meeting of Dundonald Community Council at Montgomerie Hall last week along with senior officials from South Ayrshire Council.
The issue stems from a Dundonald Community Sports, Recreation and Heritage (DCSRH) project, involving the levelling off of the park to create a sports pitch.
Residents say the work, which raised the level of ground by several feet next to neighbouring homes, has led to surface water flooding several properties.
The majority of work on the park had taken place by the time the group was told that they required planning permission.
Given the amount of work already carried out, councillors approved the retrospective application, but insisted that DCSRH ensure the drain has the capacity to take the necessary amount of surface water from the pitch.
DCSRH were told that the drain had to be assessed by the middle of January. If repair work was required this would have to be approved by council officials by February and then completed by March.
However, those targets were missed, with the news that the drain was ‘not fit for purpose’ only recently revealed.
Mike Newall, South Ayrshire Council’s depute chief executive, told Dundonald Community Council why the council had offered an extension to the works.
He said: “I’ve been advised that this level of flexibility has been there to allow repairs to be completed. They acknowledge that there has been a breach but it is actively being resolved.”
The explanation was questioned by a number of residents in attendance.
Mr Newall was asked why the council was ‘bending over backwards’ for the group despite the developer not addressing the drainage issue.
It was pointed out that, since the requirement for permission was announced, no work could be undertaken.
Kyle Councillor Julie Dettbarn said that she understood that a certain amount of leeway was reasonable.
But she added: “I am all for giving people leeway to get things fixed. But it can’t go on forever.
“There has to be a point where you say enough. These are peoples’ homes and they need assurity that things are being taken forward.”
Several residents argued that even if the drain is fully repaired it will not cope with the volume of water resulting from the raising of the pitch.
It was also pointed out that Ayrshire Roads Alliance had ‘flip-flopped’ over this aspect. Initially objecting, ARA then accepted a report from DCSRH which said the existing drain was sufficient, before reinstating the objection when residents provided their own engineering survey.
Other residents expressed their anger and frustration at the meeting.
One described the field as a ‘muddy swamp’ which was completely unusable.
Another said that the community had predicted the issues before work had even began.
He said: “Two years ago when this problem began. Along the way we have predicted everything that has happened.
“Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.”
A representative of Dundonald Highland Games, which takes place at the playing fields, said they had objected as the development has resulted in the loss of access points.
He said: “The planning application made no mention of these areas being reinstated which is a huge disappointment to us and the village.
Another neighbour said that the development had ‘wrecked’ the park, adding that she missed the sounds of the people visiting the site.
She said: “Now it is wrecked and the people around it are having this awful sludge, muck and mess flooding into their gardens and some into their homes.
“What a disgrace.”
Mr Newall concluded: “Hopefully this flexible period that the planning team have offered the leaseholders will solve the problem once and for all.
“I am sorry to hear about all of the issues.
“I will make the commitment to speak to the planning service about how much time the expect to give to the leaseholder.”
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