Published: Thursday, 15th July, 2010 2:00pm

Flooding fears at power station

URGENT action is being taken to pump away water outside a Greenock electricity sub-station.

Drainage problems have led to rainwater building up at the site near Grieve Road community centre.

ScottishPower were alerted by local councillor Iain McKenzie, who is worried about water getting into the station.

He said: "There have been drainage problems since the ABC flats were demolished."

FEARS: Iain McKenzie.

A ScottishPower spokeswoman said: "We have been alerted to this by the councillor and will pump away the water. There is no immediate danger, but we will take action."

She said they would be in touch with Oak Tree Housing Association, which owns the land surrounding the station, to find out what is being done to address the flooding problem, and would continue to monitor it.

Councillor McKenzie said he has been told by Oak Tree that they will install a filter trench to deal with the flooding and will lay a new surface on the ground.

He said: "I was worried about this 'lagoon' forming, not only from the electricity point of view but also because of the potential danger it posed to children. There is a playpark nearby.

"Oak Tree has told me they are going to do something about the broken gate, which gives access on to the sub-station site.

"Apparently it has been vandalised, but the intention is to get it re-instated and padlocked."

Oak Tree director Nick Jardine said: "We are working with ScottishPower.

"There have been drainage problems for years in the area. The most recent difficulty was caused by the ground being baked hard by weeks of hot sunshine and then hit by heavy rain which couldn't drain away."