Levenhowe Residents Association Annual General Meeting July 2022

Levenhowe Residents Association Annual General Meeting July 2022

This Covid delayed meeting is essential to elect a new committee to act on behalf of the residents of the estate.

The existing Committee will all be resigning, and we are looking for a new Committee from residents to move things forward and continue the work of protecting and improving the estate.

We have had one expression of interest in joining the Committee. We would be grateful for anyone else willing to join the Committee who can provide new ideas, support, and advice.

The existing and previous Committee members will be happy to keep involved in the background.

The current office bearers are Hugh Coyle – Chair, Vacant (Anne Marie Sweeney has stepped down)- Vice Chair, John Deasy - Secretary, Tammy McLaren – Treasurer.

If we fail to elect a new Committee, the LRA may have to be wound up and our Flood Prevention Funds returned to the Council.

Over the years, we have received some excellent technical advice and assistance from residents Alan Burns and Barrie McLaren, who also are the main volunteers in cutting back shrubbery, and branches and clearing the stream (they do the heavy work). Alan also arranges skip and equipment hire; and organises the purchase of flood prevention equipment.

Over the last couple of years the Committee have:

• Kept in regular contact with the Council and Councillors by phone and correspondence to discuss and keep pressure on


• Keeping the stream clear (the Council make regular inspections of the stream)
• Future Flood Protection Planning
• Drainage maintenance (making sure that they are kept clear)
• Funding opportunities (No new bids submitted)


• Renewed Public Liability Insurance
• Kept in contact with other parties bound by the stream; Heatherdale Residents Association and The Garage Owner.
• Contracted and commissioned Tree Surgeons to continue tree lopping and pruning work
• Carried out a major clean-up of the stream and cleared the new gully over the culvert. Cutting back vegetation overhanging the stream and removing large items that might impede the stream's flow. Moving large boulders, rocks, and masonry from the centre of the stream to improve flow. More work will be carried out later this summer. We would like to thank Alan Burns, Barrie McLaren, Josh McLaren, and Peter Coyle for volunteering and their hard work. Volunteers welcome.

Culvert Flooding:

The new gully over the culvert has operated well with the overflow of water along its length a few times over the last few years. Nothing too serious, but we need to remain vigilant.

Grant Funding

The Council has changed how Community Grants are approved. We are looking for ideas on alternative ways to raise funding, and any other Grants available.

Future Expenditure

The cost of wall repairs and stream bank reinforcing are beyond our means. The quotes for repairing the damaged wall area behind 3 and 5 Levenhow Road were in the region of £25,000. This stream area needs major Government/Council Funding, as does the remainder of the stream banks and walls.

In the meantime, we have purchased equipment to help us keep the stream clear (rather than hire it each year). Experienced operators can only use the equipment; in our case, Alan Burns, Barrie McLaren, and Peter Coyle.

We still believe the Council is responsible for keeping the stream clear and running safely past the estate. We need your help with addressing this issue with the Council and our elected representatives.

Council Flood Defence Budget

During the Covid crisis, the Residents Association (mainly Anne Marie Sweeney and Hugh Coyle) continued pressuring the Council for solutions to flooding issues. Council Officers stated that Levenhowe was in the first phase of the overall flood prevention plan for Loch Lomond. Still, the earliest implementation date was 2028 (subject to SEPA approval) and needed central government funding. We continued with our pressure and held various Zoom meetings with Councillor Jonathan McColl and Council officials. This is an extract of the letter he copied to us after a Zoom Meeting in June 2021: "Officers have promised my constituents at Levenhowe that solutions to the issues that are causing repeated flooding events in their area would be a priority coming out of the study. They were also promised that the Council would look at what measures could be taken in the interim, and to date the Council appears to have done nothing." "I am no longer willing to sit and delay sending responses and generally play defence for the indefensible, and I expect someone to answer directly to Anne Marie Sweeney, representing the residents, and explain why when the Council Leader raises issues both in private and at committee on their behalf, nobody in the department seems to know what I'm talking about and I get no real answers"

A further update request was made in December 2021 when we were advised as follows

"The Drainage Officer has instructed our consultant, RPS, to carry out the design of the proposed works, and the project's scope has been agreed upon. The team have met with the consultant to discuss the detail as we had covered in our meeting, and the design is underway. We have asked for an update to be provided on the timeline and progress of the design and we have also requested a cost estimate"

The general gist of the interim solution would be to purchase a strip of land upstream at Ballagan and thereafter create a managed floodplain further downstream on Council land.

Councillor McColl later confirmed the approval of a budget proposal as follows :- "We are investing an additional £500,000 for flood prevention across the area to enable and allow acceleration of projects such as upstream works to reduce flooding in Levenhowe and Dalvait and the River Leven and Gruggies Burn flood prevention schemes." There's still a long way to go, but LRA can be proud that an interim solution has now been agreed. However, we must keep up the pressure on WDC.

A big thank you must go to Anne Marie Sweeney (who has now stepped back from her Vice Chair role) for all her hard work and persistence; along with Chairman Hugh Coyle. They have been the two big driving forces in keeping pressure on the Council and not letting the issue be forgotten about.

Now it is time for some new faces to come forward and keep the pressure on to protect our homes!