An online petition urging Scottish Borders Council (SBC) to ‘get the work done’ following flooding in Jedburgh town centre in the run-up to Christmas has attracted nearly 200 signatures.
The petition by East Lothian resident Moya Anderson calls on the council to enact the recommendations made by the engineering experts it commissioned.
It says: “Please, please Scottish Borders Council, get the work done, it would only take a few days to stop the future risk of flooding that has affected the families, vulnerable and elderly people and small business. Give people peace of mind that all that could be done has been done.”
Retired Scotsman journalist Bill Chisholm, whose son Mark, of Blackhills Close, was made homeless in last August’s flood and again on December 21, wrote to councillors, John Lamont MSP and environment minister Paul Wheelhouse saying: “The council has failed in its duty and must be held responsible for tonight’s (December 21) catastrophic event. Nothing has been done in the 16 months since the last flood to stop the burn from overflowing. And the warning system is obviously a joke.”
Scottish Borders Councillor Jim Brown confirmed the initial £50,000 works on the problematic Skip Running Burn grill and other measures to release water build-up have been brought forward from March to early this month, despite the risk of frost on the concrete-laying operations involved.
Community council chairman Richard Gordon said: “There is a project in place and hopefully the council will speed up its implementation: planning and SEPA consent is needed.”