Angus Council’s leader has called for answers after work on a £2.65 million water pipeline in the county was stopped.
Scottish Water has laid approximately three miles of an outfall pipeline from Kirriemuir sewage works to the River Dean, near Glamis, but work was aborted following a stand-off over insurance between Scottish Water and BP.
Council leader Iain Gaul said: “It’s a bit of a faux paus. It looks like someone has forgotten to do their homework.”
Scottish Water started work before securing a standard liability agreement against potential damage to a BP pipeline crossing the proposed route.
The projected Kirriemuir water pipe also crosses oil and liquified gas pipes owned by National Grid and Shell.
Mr Gaul said: “It is a basic fundamental for any pipeline that you get your wayleaves and your cover in place before you start.
“It looks like someone has forgotten to check and they need to put their hands up and get it sorted as soon as possible.”
He added that, if the issue is not resolved, he will be looking for Scottish Water to explain why public money has been wasted.
He added: “How much would it have cost to find out if they were crossing the line? They should know where all the gas lines, power lines, oil pipes and phonelines are.
“They are all part of the public utility family and they share that information.
It wouldn’t have even cost a 10p phone call. It would have been a walk down the corridor to check some paper plans or asking someone to look it up on a computer.
“Obviously someone hasn’t done that so it begs the question: what else hasn’t been done?”
North-East MSP and Tory infrastructure spokesman Alex Johnstone added: “It appears Scottish Water have put the cart before the horse and failed to reach agreement with BP before work began, leading to expensive delays, which ultimately the taxpayer will foot the bill for.
“To have expended so much resource on a pipeline that they are now temporarily unable to complete is deeply worrying and calls into question the procedures they use for delivering major infrastructure works.”
Reports suggest BP is not looking to get money from Scottish Water but want a satisfactory commercial agreement in place.
A spokesman for Scottish Water said: “Most of the project has been completed and discussions with BP, Shell and National Grid are progressing.
“We are hoping to finalise these satisfactorily as soon as possible so our contractor will then be able to complete the project.”