Dunfermline: Could a hay bale have caused Halbeath Road flooding?

AN environmental campaigner who cleans out West Fife's rivers and ponds believes he may found the cause of the recent flooding on Dunfermline's Halbeath Road.

Andrew Dunlop, of the Clean Up Fife group, went down to Halbeath pond last Friday, February 10, and cleared away a large hay bale blocking the drainage - resulting a dramatic drop in the water level.

He told the Press: "I noticed the flooding going on in Halbeath when it happened a few weeks ago, so I thought I would go down and have a look because a couple of my friends wondered if it was all the shopping trolleys that get thrown in.

"I thought the water was a lot deeper than it was, but wasn't, so I went and had a look. There were a couple of trollies in it, but I wasn't too worried about them, it was more how the water was getting in and out. I went and had a look at the drainage and what I noticed was there was a lot of stuff stuck to the drain.

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"Me being me, I took my wellies off and went down in my socks and managed to stand on the ground at the bottom. I was down there for an hour and a half moving what I thought was weeds. I managed to heave it all to the side and I noticed it was a hay bale, someone had gone and put a hay bale in the water."

Andrew, from Lochgelly, told how the water level started to drop dramatically after he cleared away some of the hay, and just an hour after he had finished clearing the blockage, the water level had reduced by over four feet.

He continued: "I was amazed, I was like 'oh my God, it's actually dropped so much.' I knew the water was really high up because after I moved half the stuff out of the way, you could see the water rise up a little bit and force its way through. I said, 'This things not been cleaned in a long time.'"

Andrew, who has been clearing West Fife waters in his free time for the past two years and received the Kingdom FM Unsung Hero award for his efforts in 2021, "definitely" believes that the hay bale blockage was the cause of the flooding on Halbeath Road at the end of last year, and then again last month.

Following the latest flooding, which saw the road submerged and motorists having to be rescued from stranded cars, there were calls for discussiosn between the operators of Halbeath Retail Park, owned by Royal London, and Fife Council over who is responsible for the upkeep of the pond.

At that time, the local authority confirmed "all parties are working together" to solve the flooding problem.

Bill Liddle, roads maintenance manager, said: "We have met with the retail park management team to discuss the drainage issues along this section of Halbeath Road.

"All parties are working together to reduce the water level which will allow further investigation and action to get this flooding issued fixed as quickly as possible."

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