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Bridge of Allan’s £16million flood protection scheme has yet to be approved after Stirling Council failed to provide “sufficient information” for ministers to grant approval. Back in May, councillors gave the green light to secure a contract for designing and constructing the defences. The proposed infrastructure was planned to safeguard 87 properties and 700 metres of roadway from Allan Water flooding, featuring upgraded flood defence walls along Allanvale Road, Cornton Road and Fountain Road, plus new flood defence bunds at Inverallan Road and the neighbouring factory site. The Scottish Government was set to contribute £12million towards the project through the national ‘Funding of Flood Scheme Protections’ programme, with Stirling Council covering the remaining costs. Council officials sent an email to the Scottish Government on Monday, October 13, asking ministers to sign off on deemed planning permission for the scheme. But the Scottish Government released a document stating that due to insufficient detail in the application, they cannot approve the proposal. In a letter to the council dated October 14, the Scottish Government wrote: “Following consideration of the documentation supplied I am writing to advise that you have not supplied Scottish Ministers with sufficient information to enable them to agree to deemed permission for the Flood Protection Scheme at this time.” The guidance adds: “Regulation 14(3) of the Flood Risk Management Regulations allows for any other material which the local authority considers relevant to the grant of deemed planning permission to accompany the request for deemed planning permission. Scottish Ministers expect such information to include the provision of a planning assessment post consultation with any recommended conditions, to support the request.” Specifically, they demand details covering the background overview of the project; a summary of external and internal consultation responses and representations; a description of how the representations have been tackled through matters such as amendments to the scheme, conditions and/or mitigation measures in the EIA, if applicable; where amendments have been made to the scheme to take account of representations and EIA is not required by the authority, this should be supported by a screening opinion; assessment of scheme alongside development plan policies and other material considerations; and recommended conditions and reasons. Following the rejection, a Stirling Council spokesperson said: “We submitted an information link to documents associated with the Bridge of Allan flood protection scheme to the Scottish Government on October 13. “We received notification from Scottish Government on October 14 that these documents were not in the preferred format for the Scottish Government and we will provide the documents to them in the format requested shortly. “Detailed design work for the Bridge of Allan flood protection scheme is progressing in line with programme and budget.” In May this year, the Stirling Observer told how engagement and consultation had occurred on the proposals with the local community and other key stakeholders at drop-in sessions and via an online survey. Of the 24 formal objections submitted to the scheme, 18 were deemed invalid and the remaining six were withdrawn following dialogue. The newly proposed defence scheme is intended to safeguard against a flood that, statistically, happens once every 50 years. The work was set to commence in the summer of 2026 and is expected to take around 18 months. The existing defences, built in the 1980s, are now nearing their lifespan’s end. Consequently, some components are in a deteriorated state and no longer offer adequate flood protection amidst the increasing frequency and intensity of flood events due to climate change.
