Residents of a small Scots village have been left furious after the local cemetery was flooded by a nearby housing development. Gravestones at Airth Cemetery in Airth, near Falkirk, were left in pools of mud after the filthy water ran down from the adjacent Lochay Homes building site on Wednesday, January 11.
Anne Orr, whose parents are buried at the cemetery, said she "felt sick" after finding out about the flooding.
Speaking to the Record, she said: "My parents are buried just down from those gravestones. I felt sad and sick that this had happened. It's not acceptable, fair enough accidents happen but it felt so disrespectful to the dead."
The photos of headstones were posted in a community Facebook page, with locals flocking to the comments to share their outrage over the "shocking" and "disgraceful" damage.
Resident James Carroll wrote: "Absolutely disgusting. Desecrating graves. Lochay homes should be ashamed of themselves." Mary Hamilton Kerr added: "This is so sad and hurtful to the ones who have graves there."
Falkirk council member Laura Murtagh said she has been made aware of the flooding and was in contact with planning officers and Lochay Homes to address the issue.
The SNP councillor for Kinnaird and Tryst said: "Understandably, the matter of flooding close to graves at the top of the cemetery, adjacent to the site, was of particular concern and distress to the local community this week. When made aware of this, I spoke immediately to planning officers and communicated directly with company directors at Lochay Homes in seeking swift action and assurances on this situation."
Ms Murtagh noted that there have been a "number of issues" with the Lochay Homes site over the past few years, including problems with roads, access concerns and temporary flooding. She added that complaints had also been raised over the "general cleanliness and condition of the environs of the site".
The councillor said: "I will continue to pursue these matters with council planning officers and Lochay Homes, in addition to connecting with our Bereavement Services team at council to ask that there is monitoring of any ongoing impact of the cemetery locally. I very much hope however that there will be no repeat of this regrettable and distressing incident and that the action taken by Lochay homes will provide protection from further flooding.
After being contacted by Ms Murtagh, Lochay Homes sent out workmen to cleat the dirt and debris from the cemetery. A bund and netting were also installed to prevent further flooding.
A spokesperson for Lochay Homes said: "Following Mondays flood warning there was an isolated issue on Wednesday when some muddy water escaped from the site into the graveyard. We were made aware of this and this an it was cleaned up immediately.
"A bund and debris netting have been put in place to ensure this cannot happen again. We will monitor this to ensure there are no further issues."
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