A Monifieth pensioner whose idyllic garden was torn apart after persistent flooding said he was “delighted” to have his garden back in full-bloom.
James Doig, 78, was forced to rip up his prized garden after it was repeatedly flooded over an 18 month period.
In order to stop any further water damage to their property, James and his wife had to shovel out the trenches by hand – which Mr Doig pointed out was “no mean feat” for two pensioners.
Mr Doig had been concerned the extensive building work Monifieth has seen over the past decade might have inadvertently caused the water problems.
“The council offered us the advice that we should dig a series of trenches, or French drains,” said Mr Doig.
“When the problems started, the council supplied sandbags then after pressure, offered details of two contractors who may have helped.
“Neither of the contractors were interested in what was, to them, a small job.
“There was never any suggestion of their helping us with costs.
“Paul Heady, of the Scottish Flood Forum was actually our saviour.
“He identified a contractor who did a really good job under very difficult circumstances.
“Our garden is now criss-crossed with french drains, all of which had to be dug by hand.
“In spite of us doing most of the restoration work ourselves- no mean feat at our age- we expect the final costs to be in the region of £10,000.
“We are just happy to have a dry garden again.”
Paul Heady, flood recovery manager at the Scottish Flood Forum, said Mr Doig’s case was incredibly unfortunate because of the difficulty in identifying who was responsible for fixing the flooding problem.
He said: “There are a lot of costs which occur when properties are flooded and it seems to be too easy these days for local authorities to say the responsibility of dealing with flooding problems are the sole responsibility of the property owner.
“I have dealt with several cases like Mr Doig’s where property owners have been left with considerable expenses for fixing flooding issues that were not their fault.
“The emotional and physical costs of dealing with flood damage are high.
“I would stress that people should look closely at their home insurance policy to make sure they are aware of what their cover is and how extensive it is.
“The Scottish Flood Forum will always people with their flooding problems.”
Angus Council were unavailable for comment at time of going to print.
