The battle to protect Hawick and Dumfries from flooding
- Published
Hawick has suffered regular flooding issues for many years
The fear of serious flooding is never far away when wet weather strikes in Hawick and Dumfries.
A major incident was declared in one of the towns and people had to be rescued in the other after recent heavy downpours.
However, both of them are in line for multi-million pound flood protection schemes to deal with chronic issues.
How close are they to completion and did recent events have any impact on their progress?
Hawick defences
Work on the main contract to protect Hawick began last year
The Hawick project is the bigger of the two, weighing in at a current cost of nearly £92m.
It started as a flood defence scheme but now incorporates a number of other elements including the creation of a new active travel network, upgrading the A7 and improving the town's waste water works.
The council has estimated it is saving more than £30m by combining them rather than carrying out the schemes individually.
Work on the main contract started in July 2020 and is due for completion before the end of 2023.
It had been hoped it could be finished next year but the council said the loss of one summer "window" due to Covid restrictions had pushed it back.
A major incident was declared in Hawick recently amid fears up to 500 properties could be affected
However, the recent major incident appears not to have had any adverse effects.
Scottish Borders Council said the project team had "worked tirelessly" to bolster the work already in place.
It said the vast majority of the temporary flood defences "held strong" with only a small breach at Lower Mansfield Road.
Construction work was halted due to the major incident and to allow the river level to fall - but it has since restarted.
"The site has been secured and deemed safe for works to recommence on a section by section basis," said a council statement.
"At this stage we are not anticipating that this flood event will cause any impact on the overall scheme cost or completion date."
The flood protection scheme now combines four different elements at a cost of more than £90m
Despite the recent incident, the local authority said it had no plans to speed up the work.
"If works were to be accelerated significantly, this would cause additional pressure on the residents and businesses of Hawick," it said.
"We believe the current level of progress versus the impact on the town is the right balance."
Who is paying?
Funding is coming from a range of organisations to pay for the Hawick scheme
The cost breakdown for the Hawick scheme is as follows:
Scottish government - £63m
Scottish Borders Council - £15m
Sustrans, the national walking and cycling charity - £12.6m
Scottish Water - £667,000
Transport Scotland - £500,000
The Whitesands scheme
Water on the Whitesands has become a familiar occurrence in Dumfries
In Dumfries, the Whitesands - which has suffered problems for decades - is also in line for a flood protection scheme at a cost of about £25m.
However, it remains a more distant prospect than the Borders project.
A finalised scheme was approved by the Scottish government in March 2020 despite opposition from people who fear the loss of riverside views and car parking spaces.
There is still no clear timeline or financial package in place for work to start.
Opponents of the Dumfries scheme - which involves a raised walkway - fear it will compromise riverside views
A report is expected at a future meeting of Dumfries and Galloway Council's communities committee on its progress.
Concerns about the speed with which it can be delivered were raised in the Scottish Parliament this week.
South of Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said it was "heartbreaking" that the Dumfries scheme had not started.
He said the capital funding for flood protection schemes was already oversubscribed for the next five years with no funding available for the Whitesands project.
No timeline or funding package is yet in place for the Whitesands defences
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said a prioritisation process - involving the Scottish Environment Protection Agency - evaluated the schemes which needed the "strongest action".
He said they would consider the resources available for flooding.
"That is a material issue as we wrestle with the challenges that climate change is throwing at us," he told the Scottish Parliament.
It means that the Dumfries project is unlikely to be completed until quite some time after its Hawick counterpart.