Edinburgh council blamed for 'serious failure' on gully clearances
Only two out of more than 200 requests were attended by council crews in Murrayfield
Edinburgh council has come under fire after it emerged that fewer than one in 10 requests to clear the city’s blocked gullies have been attended to within a month of being reported.
Out of the 2,590 requests by locals to unblock the road drains only 172 (6.6 per cent) were quickly over the last six months, a backlog the council blames on staffing and fleet issues.
The data, obtained by council Lib Dem leader Ed Thornley, follows a spell of wet and blustery weather which has blown leaves and other debris into the city’s gullies, increasing the risk of flooding.
Cllr Thornley said “For less than seven per cent of reports to be addressed in a timely manner is a serious failure by the Council.
“I asked this question because parts of my ward suffer from serious surface water flooding, and to know that the vast majority of reports they make about gullies will not be seen to is really disheartening.
“The Council tells residents to report issues, but why should they bother if there’s little to no chance of their report being dealt with? The Council must do better on getting basic services like this right.”
While not the cause, a quarter of gullies in the Old Town required maintenance at the time of August’s flash floods, which briefly turned its streets into rivers.
Morningside saw the most requests to clear gullies, followed by Inverleith and Corstorphine/Murrayfield, with more than 200 requests in each ward.
In the Corstorphine and Murrayfield ward, only two of these requests were attended by the council’s drainage team within a month.
The council aims to assess ad hoc requests within three months.
Labour’s Stephen Jenkinson, who convenes the transport and environment committee, said: “Our Roads team clear gullies throughout the year on a cyclical basis, and over the last six months cleaned more than 19,000 gullies around the city through these routes.
“On top of this, officers attend to ad hoc gully requests, prioritising reports based on factors like gully sensitivity or location.
“While recent staff shortages and fleet issues have resulted in a focus on cyclic routes, these matters have now been resolved, meaning more resources can now be directed to ad hoc requests.”