Lanark Shopkeepers kick up stink over sewer repairs

Apr 4 2008

LANARK businesses have lost thousands of pounds in sales because of Scottish Water's "incompetence," angry shopkeepers claimed this week.

They were hitting out after the town centre became a virtual no-go area for more than a week, thanks to a hole dug by Scottish Water.

A collapsed sewer in Bloomgate has resulted in raw sewage spilling onto the pavement and road for more than six months.

Local shopkeepers claimed this was having an adverse effect on trade, and said that continual complaints to Scottish Water for action had got them nowhere.

When Scottish Water workmen did turn up they simply carried out a quick fix rather than tackling the underlying problem. Within days the leak was as bad as ever.

In an earlier statement to the Advertiser, Scottish Water said : "Engineers will be carrying out replacement work on an aging sewer pipe at Bloomgate, Lanark, on Sunday, February 17. Due to traffic management issues we are unable to carryout the work during peak traffic times."

However, they did not do the promised work. Last Tuesday workmen did appear and closed Bloomgate, the main A73 through Lanark, resulting in traffic being diverted away from the town centre. As a result, the town centre became dead, claimed angry shopkeepers. One businessman revealed that on the first day of the closure his takings were down £600, and he was at the other end of the town centre from the closure.

What infuriated businessmen even more was that there were just two men on site, and they stopped work at 3pm. Eventually, further complaints by businesses about the lack of speed saw the work continue over the weekend.

By Sunday the sewer had been replaced and the hole just required to be tarred over before the road was able to re-open.

When no-one appeared on site on Monday, and the road remained closed, concerned shopkeepers again contacted Scottish Water and were told the tarmac was not due to be laid until April 8 and the road would remain closed until then.

Further complaints about lack of urgency finally saw the hole filled in on Wednesday morning (yesterday), with the road due to be re-opened later that day.

"This whole saga has been totally unreal and has cost local businesses thousands of pounds, maybe even tens of thousands, in lost sales," one angry retailer told the Advertiser.

"It is terrible that one utility can almost bring the town's trade to its knees," he added.

HGV drivers relying on sat nav rather than signposted diversions added to the misery of Lanarkians. Monday's community council meeting heard that large artic lorries had ignored the diversionary signs and instead had continued along High Street and taken the very narrow Castlegate and Friars Lane route to avoid the closure. With those roads being not much wider than a large lorry it caused great congestion, especially after several lorries became stuck.

The long-awaited work on filling the hole only came after local MSP Karen Gillon went straight to the top at Scottish Water. At the same time South Lanarkshire Council officials demanded quick action.

In a hard-hitting letter to Dr John Hargreaves, chief executive of Scottish Water, Mrs Gillon told him: "I am becoming increasingly frustrated at your inability to find a long term solution to the problems being experienced by residents and businesses in Bloomgate.

"For more than a year now there have been almost weekly incidents of sewage spilling into the street. Eventually your staff find a short term solution but days later the problem is back. "This is simply unacceptable and cannot continue any longer. I would therefore urge you to carry out a comprehensive survey of the site and put in place a solution which will work for more than a few weeks. Such an approach is long overdue and I look forward to your early response and action."

Scottish water were asked for a comment but failed to respond in time.