Local wards

Ownership of the burn will fall to the riparian owner (land owner), assuming there is no other legal undertaking by another, riparian owners will generally have the authority to undertake works of clearance and repair, subject to appropriate permissions (e.g. Controlled Activities Regulations (CAR) licence, Planning Permission, etc.). However, the riparian owner has no duty to undertake works of clearance and repair, merely the right to do so as owner.

The council has duty (rather than responsibility) under Section 18 of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 to “assess relevant bodies of water for the purposes of ascertaining whether the condition of any such body of water gives rise to a risk of flooding of land within or out with its area”, and where “the authority considers that clearance and repair works would substantially reduce that risk”, “prepare a schedule of those clearance and repair works”. Properties here are shown within the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) high risk flood plain (10% chance of happening in any one year.)

SEPA river flood risk mapping is a nationally consistent approach to producing flood hazard information, such as depth of water and speed of flow arising from river flooding. It is based on a two-dimensional flood modelling method applied across Scotland to all catchments greater than 3 square kilometres. The river flood map includes hydraulic structures and defences such as bridges, culverts and flood storage areas where appropriate information was available. 

Furthermore, in relation to the council commissioned Whitesands Flood Risk Assessment, which looks at the floodplain associated with the River Nith alone, with properties potentially seeing inundation of up to 1 metre due to flooding of the River Nith during the same high risk scenario. During significant rainfall events, the water from the Maryholm will not be able to discharge into the River Nith due to it already spilling out into the floodplain – and clearance of vegetation will not reduce risk of flooding from Maryholm Burn.

As stated above, the risk of flooding to properties within the area from the River Nith is high, and no works of clearance and repair works of Maryholm Burn would reduce that risk. It is the responsibility of property owners to protect their properties from flooding (similar to installing smoke alarms etc. against fire risk). The council currently operates a Flood Subsidy Scheme which provides subsidised cost property flood resilience products, and is available to business and residential properties alike. Additional information on the scheme and available products can be viewed on the Council’s web page (https://www.dumgal.gov.uk/article/15834/Flood-product-subsidy-scheme).

However, it was agreed to work with residents to establish a local community resilience group.  The groups plan would:

• identify the essential requirements for the community
• set out what to do during a crisis with clear roles and responsibilities
• list the actions that allow key activities to continue in difficult circumstances.