Family hit out at council over drainage problems
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A ROSS-shire family with six children and a father in a wheelchair have been living without an indoor toilet for six years and blame Highland Council for building an "unviable" drainage system.
David and Sharon Low claim "entirely useless" work carried out by a council drainage contractor in 2012 has caused them immense psychological stress – about to intensify with the prospect of the loaned portable toilet being taken back.
The couple claim they have to use the portable toilet in their back garden year-round in all weathers and that even having a wash is a challenge as they must sit in a baby bath beneath the shower and then carry heavy water-filled containers outside because there is no free-flowing drainage for the indoor toilet or accompanying household waste water.
They say their children’s hands have received frost burns from the metallic outdoor toilet door and they have had to wrap scarves laced with tea-tree oil round their faces to mask the stench of sewage wafting around their home.
Now, the council has signalled its intention to remove the toilet it loaned to the family, saying it can no longer expect the public purse to foot the bill for sewage to be uplifted several times a week for a family staying in a privately-owned property.
Highland Council claims the Low family purchased a property with "substantial maintenance issues" and that it has "tried every means possible" to support Mr Low.
The situation arose shortly after the couple bought Church House, a former church building in Fearn, in 2009. They discovered the existing drainage needed upgrading and received a £15,000 Private Sector Repair Grant for low income/disabled families.
The council carried out drainage work which Mr Low claims backed up within two months, flooding the cellar with raw sewage.
Mr Low also claims he tried without success to get the council to fix it and found it "impossible" to get a solicitor willing to take on a legal aid case.
A drainage contractor hired by the family last year to dig up the garden concluded that an enlarged drainage pit installed by the council contractor in 2011 "was totally unviable".
He found the walls of the pit, under the first metre of topsoil, were composed entirely of "impermeable clay", "acting more as a bowl to contain foul-water rather than facilitate dispersal".
His report states proper soil absorption tests would have shown an off-site system was the only solution "averting the hardship endured by the Low family for the last four years".
The council’s own consultant claimed "no evidence was presented" to suggest the work carried out by the council’s contractor breached "current design standards". His report says drainage problems at Church House site were historical, "removing the possibility of any soak-away system functioning as it should".
They agree that an off-site solution is the only way forward.
Mr Low, who uses a wheelchair due to a prolapsed vertebrae, said: "Why didn’t the council just build the off-site solution in the first place?"
A Highland Council spokeswoman said the Low family could apply for grant funding.
But Mr Low said: "That was only offered to us after five-and-a-half years of complaining. But what we are saying is the remit of the initial £15,000 grant to improve drainage was never fulfilled so why should we apply for another one?"
He added: "We are currently trying to save the £10,000 to have the job done ourselves, but this is painfully slow given we have a mortgage to cover from our income support/child benefits. Our children had Christmas courtesy of MFR Cash for Kids. The car has gone to raise cash.
"We anticipate we will have the money by mid-2019 and only ask that the council maintain our lifeline external toilet unit till then, magnanimous, given it is entirely their fault."
A council spokeswoman said the toilet was provided in 2016 as a temporary measure "whilst he took action to address the drainage issues at his property".
"We agreed to extend the provision of the toilet pending a further grant application – no grant application has been received. Staff have also advised him that he can either pay to have the temporary toilet remain on site or if not, he would be entitled to apply for homeless accommodation."
Mr Low said: "Why is it up to me at all to rectify the drainage problems? We consider ourselves victims of their negligence. We do not seek damages, we just want a working toilet."
