Bridge of Earn Surface Water Management Plan - Community Survey

Overview

Perth & Kinross Council is keen to consult with local residents and businesses in Bridge of Earn regarding flooding due to surface water.

In December 2021, SEPA published the Tay Flood Risk Management (FRM) Plan and in December 2022, the Council published the Tay Local FRM Plan. Both documents can be viewed via https://www.pkc.gov.uk/frmplans and include the requirement for a ‘Surface Water Flood Study’ (SWFS) for Bridge of Earn as one of the selected actions for managing flood risk in the area.

SEPA has published flood risk maps on its website at https://map.sepa.org.uk/floodmaps.  These maps indicate the risk of potential surface water flooding to parts of Bridge of Earn. Due to the small catchment size, small watercourses may not be shown on SEPA’s indicative map. SEPA’s Flood Maps were developed using a consistent, nationally applied methodology to catchment areas equal to or greater than 3km² using a Digital Terrain Model (DTM).  Therefore, the fluvial flood risk from such minor watercourses has not been modelled or shown on the SEPA Flood Map. Consequently, these areas may also be at risk of flooding.

The flood maps are primarily backed up by historical reports of flooding; however, these are indicative and do not cover every instance of past flooding reported. The following issues have been observed:

• Flooding of gardens at Burnbank. 
• Multiple properties flooding due to surcharged drains at locations like Heatherlea Drive, Sealsbridge House, Back Street, Riverside, Side Street, and Burnbank. 
• Houses affected in Sealsbridge Cottage, Scott Way, and Back Street. 
• Properties in Burnbank impacted by drainage system surcharges. 
• Various locations, including Old Edinburgh Place, Earnbank, Kintillo Road, B935 Forgandenny Road, and more, experiencing flooding. 
• Pluvial (surface water) flooding from roads affecting gardens and properties at Back Street and Old Edinburgh Road. 
• Flooding occurring under the railway bridge on Old Edinburgh Road. 
• Properties on Grove Lane flooding due to drainage overflow and pluvial runoff.

The Council has recently engaged consulting engineers, RSK/Binnies, to develop the SWFS.  This work will involve reviewing and modelling existing flood conditions and the consideration of potential measures to address flood risk.

RSK’s surveyors will shortly be undertaking a topographical survey to inform the SWFS.  The survey is anticipated to commence in the first week of March and will focus on the Deich Burn and Yellow Burn. 

The data gathered will be used to gain a better understanding of the risk of flooding in the area and any potential future actions to address it.

Further survey work will be required towards the end of March which will focus on external property thresholds, e.g., external door sill levels, air brick levels, etc.

Further notification of this survey work will be provided nearer the time.

Why your views matter

To inform the surface water management plan, we are keen to gather as much local information as possible, to build on our existing knowledge. In particular we are looking for the following:-

• Details of past flood events: date, time, flood depth and damage caused;
• Background information, records, videos or photographs of previous flooding

We would be grateful if you could complete this consultation by Friday 28 March 2025.  

We would encourage residents to share their views by completing the questionnaire, and to provide any flood photos and videos they may hold. We can copy any such information and return it to you if this would help.  This information will help to inform the development of the Blairgowrie surface water management plan.