Fife Council has apologised to residents hit by the Dunfermline flood prevention scheme and is considering compensation.
The move came as SNP councillor Neale Hanvey urged the local authority to take responsibility for its role in the £34 million Dunfermline “fiasco”.
The Dunfermline Central member said: “This scheme has been a thorn in the side of local residents for more than eight years as they have had to deal with repeated delays, damage to their property and near constant disruption.”
Last week, The Courier reported the ill-fated project has been hit by years of problems, resulting in Fife Council’s internal audit team conducting a review.
Mr Hanvey said: “This report acknowledges what local residents have known throughout, that poor performance was at the heart of the chaos and misery.
“Performance concerns were known to exist as early as 2007.
“This project is more than six years late and between £20 million and 30 million over budget but the report seems to suggest that it is everyone’s fault but the council’s.”
He hoped the authority would acknowledge its responsibility in how the project had been “mismanaged”.
“This is not about blame or what should have been done, it’s about an honest appraisal of what could have been done and how to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Mr Hanvey was also disappointed that the distress caused to residents had not been identified as a learning point and no formal apology from the council had been made.
“It is simply not good enough to blame others and shrug our shoulders over millions that are quite literally down the drain,” he said.
However, following private debate at the executive committee, Mr Ross has apologised to residents and revealed the council is considering compensation.
Councillors recognised the significant impact on residents and agreed that further consideration will be given to compensation for them.
The independent district valuer is dealing with this.
Mr Ross said: “This scheme went badly wrong.
“Even though the council acted appropriately and was badly let down, we need to recognise our overall responsibility for this project.
“I can only apologise to those residents who have been affected over a period of years and reiterate our commitment to concluding the project in a satisfactory manner.
“We have learned lessons from this experience and will examine this latest report in greater detail to see what more can be done to prevent anything like this happening in the future.”