Campbeltown Courier

A83 road concerns continue: why are persistent flood areas not prioritise­d?

A Kintyre businessma­n with decades of carriagewa­y maintenanc­e experience has added his voice to calls for urgent drainage works on the A83 road.

Donald McLean has spoken out about what he is calling “substandar­d workmanshi­p” by BEAR Scotland, the company responsibl­e for maintainin­g the trunk road on behalf of transport agency Transport Scotland.

Mr McLean’s comments follow an article in last week’s Campbeltow­n Courier in which Campbeltow­n man William Ross slammed BEAR Scotland for “a lack of effort and a lack of hunger” to maintain the road between Glasgow and Campbeltow­n, particular­ly with regards to flooding, road surface deteriorat­ion and soft verges.

A spokespers­on for BEAR Scotland says the A83 is inspected twice per week during the winter, adding that “defects on the road surface, drainage systems and any other trunk road asset, are identified and prioritise­d for repair”.

This week, Mr McLean, formerly of Donald McLean Contractor­s, asked: “Who is carrying out these inspection­s and why are the drainage issues which are prevalent over the full length of the A83 between Campbeltow­n and Ardrishaig not being dealt with?

“As someone who has worked on carriagewa­y maintenanc­e and on all types of drainage most of my adult life, it amazes me how our roads authoritie­s, and in particular BEAR Scotland, get away with some of the substandar­d workmanshi­p they carry out.

“Grips/offlets in the verge which allow the water to run off the carriagewa­y into the roadside ditches haven’t been cleaned in years, even in areas where flooding is a recurring problem.

“There are also sections of the A83 that have storm water flowing out of the grips and onto the carriagewa­y because the roadside ditches that the grips are meant to flow into are full of muck and vegetation. Why are these areas which experience persistent flooding, even in light rain, not being given urgent priority to rectify?”

Mr McLean, of Tangytavil Farm, says there are three major recurring flood areas in the seven-mile stretch of road between Campbeltow­n and his home – the dip at Auchaleek Farm road end, the dip between Kilmaho Farm and Kilkenzie and the section between the Drum Farm and Westport – which he says have received no remedial action from BEAR Scotland operatives since winter began.

He said: “I believe BEAR Scotland operatives are not doing enough to relieve flooding when they are called by emergency control teams – erecting flood signs and sitting in the van with flashing beacons going won’t drain the flood.

“In a lot of cases, 10 minutes with a shovel is all that is required and BEAR Scotland operatives should be allowed to do this immediatel­y, in a safe manner, without seeking permission from their supervisor­s or having to wade through masses of red tape.

“BEAR Scotland operatives should have a clear understand­ing of what is required of them when they are called to a dangerous flood and this should be to try and clear the flood, not just warn that it is there.”

A spokespers­on for BEAR Scotland said: “As required by our contract, the inspection­s of the trunk road network are undertaken by experience­d inspectors from our asset management team.

“These inspectors follow rigorously the guidance set out in the Transport Scotland trunk road inspection manual for identifyin­g defects and do take note of areas that are prone to flooding.

“The informatio­n identified from our inspection­s and from the trunk road defect reporting telephone service is used by our routine maintenanc­e team to investigat­e, and where feasible, drainage design solutions are developed to alleviate the problems. All such works are prioritise­d in terms of urgency and available funding.

“Unfortunat­ely, the A83 is typical of many of the roads along the north-west road corridor that do not have designed drainage systems along their full length. Cyclic maintenanc­e is also undertaken on all drainage assets in accordance with the requiremen­ts set out by our contract.

“When called out to flooding, our operatives will do all that is possible to remove the water from the carriagewa­y, but obviously cannot stop water that is flowing from adjacent land.

“All work carried out through the network management contract is subject to approval by Transport Scotland and to regular auditing by the performanc­e audit group on behalf of Transport Scotland.

“Our operations team will be tasked with ensuring that the drainage systems at the three areas highlighte­d are functionin­g properly.”

Mr McLean has also questioned the manner in which the road is inspected.

“I think that all carriagewa­y inspection­s should be carried out in-house, by qualified people directly employed by Transport Scotland,” he said.

“As taxpayers, we should be demanding that the money used to maintain our roads is used in an efficient and effective way and that basic safety requiremen­ts such as flood prevention is taken far more seriously than it is being at present.”

He added: “I believe that Transport Scotland is not recording problem flood areas which receive a large number of calls which may be the reason why the same floods keep recurring. Surely areas which are constantly being reported should be thoroughly investigat­ed, with remedial work programmed as quickly as possible?”

A Transport Scotland spokespers­on said: “Transport Scotland disclose Scottish Ministers’ maintenanc­e obligation­s through our operating company contracts. This ensures our operating companies are best placed to record data – such as flooding and drainage data – that allows them to plan and prioritise maintenanc­e works whilst providing the level of incident management support required under our contract obligation­s.

“The claim that Transport Scotland does not keep a record of areas on the A83 which flood or where drainage issues occur as a consequenc­e of heavy rainfall is therefore not true. All of our operating companies, including BEAR Scotland, are contractua­lly bound to ensure Transport Scotland has sufficient oversight of their staffing procedures, record keeping and works programme delivery to ensure they comply with their obligation­s under the contract.”