THE Scottish capital's controversial flood-prevention scheme is running a year late, has burst its budget by nearly double and could end up being only one-third of the way completed, The Herald can reveal.
The first phase of the Water of Leith Flood Prevention Scheme will not be finished until next autumn and the cost of that part of the project – from Stockbridge to Bonnington – has already risen from £11.5 million to £21m in the space of year.
Edinburgh City Council has admitted it does not have enough money to finish phase two of the project – from Murrayfield to Belford – and phase three – Balgreen to Longstone.
Completion of these would cost an additional £65.9m.
The council said bad weather was partly to blame for the setbacks.
The half-completed works become so deluged every time it rains the site has become an attraction for passers-by and a hit on YouTube after a number of videos were posted.
The council also said the costs are "not yet finalised" and a report is due in January. It is to ask the Scottish Government for funding for the two future phases.
The news prompted a furious reaction, with one resident saying: "It's just like the trams. Where did they think they were going to get the money from?"
Another year of works is a devastating prospect for people in the Colonies in Stockbridge, an area identified as being badly hit by flooding but one that some residents said only needed limited remedial work done on existing defences.
Senga Reid, 41, of Bell Place, said: "You are having a laugh. We never needed all the defences.
"The street has been flooded out this year for the first time – while the works were being done. I've lived here all my life and that was the only time it has flooded here. All we needed was the weak bits in the wall fixed. They took down the wall here just before the flood in July.
"It was coming through the space and I ran down to get the car out. I only just managed it, the water was seconds away. It got to waist height."
Neighbour Deborah Anderson likened the project to the trams – running late, over budget and incomplete. She added: "There are cracks in the walls and we can't even put scaffolding up until the [flood prevention] work is finished. My garden has become a rubbish dump."
Edinburgh Labour MSP Sarah Boyack called on Holyrood to help bail out the council.
She said: "The SNP Government needs to come forward with the funding to enable this vital scheme to be completed.
"Hundreds of homes and businesses across the south-west of the city depend upon it and the Scottish Government can't simply sit back and wash its hands of responsibility."
Edinburgh Green MSP Alison Johnstone said the delay was frustrating.
She added: "Those living around the Colonies area have put up with a huge amount of disturbance, worry and inconvenience. We must ensure local people feel confident they will be protected in the future."
Lesley Hinds, council environment leader, said: "The project has been affected by a number of factors including adverse weather and alterations to the design brought about by unforeseen land conditions, which means it is running approximately one year behind schedule."
While the defences have been welcomed by many, others have raised concerns over the felling of dozens of mature trees to make way for the project.
Ani Rinchen won a reprieve for trees along the bank, but the council then changed its mind because of the "over-riding need to get on with the work".
She said: "As with the tram scheme, it has been one huge fiasco from the beginning.
"Surely the excuses of 'adverse weather' and 'unforeseen land conditions' are just a euphemism for 'we haven't done our homework'."
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