A STEVENSTON grandmother has hit out at North Ayrshire Council after flooding issues once again affected her home.

And she said it has been an ongoing issues for nearly 20 years.

Shirley Templeton, who lives in St Stephen’s Place, told the Herald that the problems have been going on for years and has reached the end of her tether with North Ayrshire council.

Her home is the only house in the street affected with flooding and the council say that they are working with Scottish Water to fix the issue once and for all but Shirley said it is not good enough.

She said: “They have been telling me for 19 years it will be sorted. My position as a tenant is that I should not be chasing them for 19 years.

“I pay the same rent as everyone else. I have lost days off work because I refuse to walk through the sewage in my garden. I need peace of mind.”

Shirley, who works as a taxi driver, explained that a manhole in her garden blew off and her partner Stephen accidentally fell down the hole in what could have been a serious incident.

She added: “In December the manhole blew off. It came right up like a geyser. He has been to hospital for an x-ray and can hardly walk on it [his leg]. My dad came around by chance and found him, he could have been killed if it wasn’t for that. It gives me the fear living here, my skin is crawling and I am just waiting for the next thing to happen.”

Shirley has been trying to get a new property but was told she has no points to get a move.

She said: “I am not interested in points, I have a four-month old in the house, my son is asthmatic and I am diabetic. It is their job to fix this and they have a duty of care to my family.”

Local Labour councillor, Jim Montgomerie, supports Shirley and told the Herald: “Shirley came to see me at my surgery in an awful state. She told me she couldn’t get in and out of her house when it’s raining due to the garden being flooded with water and raw sewage. You can only imagine what it was like with the smell and everything.” Whoever she has spoken to in the past they have done nothing for her that’s the bottom line.

“I told Shirley I would get to the bottom of it and dealt with. She told me it’s been going on for 19 years. Unbelievable. I have had numerous dialogue with the council about this and it turns out that it is a Scottish Water issue. Scottish Water have told the council they have not in the past renewed the manhole cover because there would be a trip hazard, it’s not rocket science that with a little adjustment they could have made it level with the ground, but it’s alright for it to blow off and and for someone to fall down it? Could you imagine if it was a child? They would have fallen right down it.”

A North Ayrshire council spokesperson said: “We can appreciate Ms Templeton’s frustrations, as the issue with flooding in her garden has been ongoing for some time.

“There is a combined foul water and surface water pipe running through Ms Templeton’s garden that is the responsibility of Scottish Water. It would appear that the pipe does not have adequate capacity to deal with the increased volumes of foul and surface water in periods of heavy rainfall.

“We are currently in discussions with Scottish Water regarding their plans to resolve the issue once and for all. In the meantime, to minimise any further disruption for Ms Templeton, we are arranging for the manhole cover in her garden to be replaced with a sealed manhole cover as a matter of urgency. This will stop the foul water rising into Ms Templeton’s garden.”