Cumbernauld pond plan set for public display

And to keep residents up to date Scottish Water is holding a public exhibition of the planned drainage pond project next week.

The event is at the Abronhill Community Centre, Larch Road, on Tuesday, July 26, from 4pm to 7pm.

Mark MacLaren of Scottish Water, said: “These public exhibitions allow residents, businesses and other local stakeholders to find out more about this innovative scheme.” We are committed to finding low-carbon, environmentally friendly solutions to deal with drainage in Scotland and Cumbernauld will soon have several of these facilities in place.”

Laurence Kelly, Scottish Water project manager, said: “These drainage sites take surface water out of sewers and redirect it to ponds which treat the water naturally.This allows our waste water works to concentrate on treating the foul sewage for which they where designed.”

The ponds will encourage wildlife and enhance water quality in the Red Burn, which flows through Cumbernauld Glen. Some eight ponds are planned.

A planning application was recently approved for the first pond and work has started in the northern part of Cumbernauld Glen between Broom Road and Forest Road.

Contractors Morrisons have prepared the land by removing non-native coniferous trees and vegetation. Scottish Water will re-plant native broadleaf saplings to replace the poor quality conifers.

Major construction work on the pond will be completed by late summer and replanting of trees will take place in November. The whole project is currently estimated to be completed late 2012.

An Environmental Assessment has been completed and an Ecological Clerk of Works employed to ensure that there is minimal impact on the local wildlife and adjacent woodland. Scottish Water has also agreed to fund a package of environmental improvements on adjacent land owned by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.

Following a statutory consultation period a formal planning application will be made for the rest of the ponds. Public notices regarding the consultations will appear in the Cumbernauld News and the Falkirk Herald.

Laurence Kelly continued: “Scottish Water has been working closely with SEPA and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, on whose land some of the ponds will be located.

“Cumbernauld is geographically the high point for a number of burns in the Central Belt, with some flowing west to the River Clyde and the rest flowing east towards the River Forth - so water quality improvements here can have a far reaching effect.

“The Red Burn originates north of Lenziemill Road and Carbrain Industrial Estate. Historically rainfall would have flooded to the Red Burn via a series of ditches, draining what was mostly agricultural land. As the agriculture gave way to residential and industrial development the ditches were replaced with piped outfalls. Surface water flows from the industrial areas of Wardpark are currently piped to a series of outfalls which then feed directly into the Red Burn. These ponds will remove pollutants from the water and then return the treated water to the Red Burn. The old outfalls will remain in place for maintenance purposes.”

Rob Mustard, General Manager for Waste Water, Scottish Water, said: “Since forming in 2002, Scottish Water has invested heavily in Lanarkshire. £140million was invested in 2006-10 in water and waste water infrastructure for North and South Lanarkshire. This project in Cumbernauld is part of our continuing improvements planned for the 2010-2015 investment period.”