Council admits it was ‘wrong’ to leave Perth floodgates open

Perth and Kinross Council has admitted it was wrong to leave the North Inch floodgates open during torrential rain last October.

The blunder is acknowledged several times in a long-awaited report on the Perth floodgates fiasco.

Residents were forced to flee their homes, and properties beside the North Inch suffered millions of pounds worth of damage as the River Tay burst its banks.

An amber weather warning had been issued for the weekend of October 6-8 2023.

But the council later admitted there were too few trained staff on duty to close all of the gates in Perth’s £25 million flood defences.

In a new report, the council’s legal chief Lisa Simpson writes: “With the benefit of hindsight, in relation to the floodgates on the North Inch, this was the wrong decision.”

She goes on to say it “may likely have contributed to the degree of flood damage sustained by a small number of the total properties affected.”

The report details the council’s response to the flooding that battered Perth and other areas on October 6-8.

And despite the admission of wrongdoing, Ms Simpson defends the systems it had in place.

She says residents can have confidence that the problems were not due to “systematic failure” of the Perth flood prevention scheme OR the council’s emergency procedures.

But she writes: “Inadequate staffing resources over that weekend and the unexpected severity of the weather event undermined the quality of our response on that occasion.”

Council insurers accept impact of North Inch floodgates failure

The report will go to the council’s scrutiny and performance committee on Wednesday.

It comes 14 months after homes and businesses around the North Inch suffered catastrophic flooding.

Bell’s Sports Centre was among the casualties.

The venue was hit with a £2m repair bill and has never re-opened.

Victims have been calling on the council to accept liability.

They told The Courier they were still waiting for answers on the anniversary of the flooding.

Ms Simpson now writes: “The scrutiny and performance committee understand that council’s insurers have carried out their own independent assessment to determine what, if any, impact the delay in closing the gates had on each of the affected properties.

“We understand that the insurers have accepted that the failure to close floodgates likely impacted the extent of the flood damage experienced in relation to a small number of the total properties affected; and that settlement offers have already been or are due to be made.

“The Scrutiny Review can make no further comment on the matter of liability.”

Changes made to prevent repeat of North Inch floodgates fiasco

Ms Simpson’s report is written on behalf of the committee.

And it comes after councillors heard evidence from partners such as Sepa, Scottish Water and SSE Renewables.

All defended their actions on the weekend of October 6-8.

Ms Simpson says the council has introduced a number of changes in the aftermath of the flooding.

These include the purchase of new lightweight flood barriers, which are quicker to install in an emergency.

Parking and community wardens have also had training so they can help to close the floodgates.

Officers’ decision was risk-based but wrong

Former Executive Director for Communities Barbara Renton was in charge of the council’s response on the weekend of October 6-8.

She was criticised after initially appearing to blame Sepa for failing to make the flood threat clear.

She went on to take early retirement in January this year after 34 years with the council.

Ms Simpson writes: “The committee acknowledges the resource pressures experienced that weekend and accepts that officers took a risk-based decision, taking into account the data available to them at the time, their professional knowledge and experience and an assessment of the situation on the ground.

“Nonetheless the committee agrees that the decision not to close the floodgates was, with hindsight, the wrong decision.”