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The Herald Scotland

£10m commitment to Edinburgh Seafield sewage stench delayed

'People are unhappy,' said Jim Scanlon, chair of Leith Links Community Council, who has had to take on the responsibility of collecting odour reports. 75 were received in May, compared to 12 in the same period last year, he said. 'From May and June the number of reports made through the community council website are much higher than this period last year,' he said. 'They [Scottish Water] will put that down to climate change and dry periods, but the fact that's annoying us is that they've had this £10m and nothing has been done. 'It's maybe going to cost double that now, just with rising inflation and building costs since Covid.' Mr Scanlon said that in a recent meeting with Scottish Water bosses he was told, 'they were just going to tender,' adding: 'My question to them was that if you're just tendering at the moment the process could take two or three months. In which case you'd be looking at October, November. So it's drifting into 2026. 'We find that totally unacceptable.' Scottish Water was unable to say when work would start, but it is expected to issue an update with a project timeline and a new cost estimate once a contractor is assigned to the job. The water body told The Herald it remained 'committed to investing in Seafield'. Eileen Simpson is a long-time resident of Pirniefield, one of the neighbourhoods worst affected by the 'Seafield stench'. Describing what it's like living near the plant she said: 'It's dreadful, we can't use the garden at times, we're not as bad as down near Seafield but there are pockets where it's particularly bad and sometimes it spreads away up Easter Road. 'With this commitment of £10m I think there's a bit of complacency setting in and we were just trusting them [Scottish Water]. 'People's lives are being really badly impacted by it.' Read more: Scottish Water spending had 'shortcomings' minister admits Mr Scanlon said: 'People can't go into their gardens, they have to shut their windows - it basically means when they invite friends round it's embarrassing because it just stinks and it affects people's mental health and well-being.' Ms Simpson, who also sits on the community council, said she felt there wasn't 'a practice of openness and transparency' from the public body 'in the way they should be'. She called for an emergency meeting with stakeholders to find out more about 'what's happening about the £10m' a 'transparent discussion' with the community council, Scottish Government and city council 'about the plans for the next period'. Scotland's largest waste water treatment facility, Seafield serves Edinburgh and the wider Lothians, playing a key role in the country's water infrastructure. Since 1999, it has been operated by French company Veolia under a PFI (Private Finance Initiative) contract which expires in 2029. Odour issues have persisted for decades, though are said to have eased following a £25m odour improvement plan in 2010. However complaints have continued since. The problem is worse after warm, dry spells when there is a lack of water to treat sewage and is septic by the time it arrives in the settlement tanks on the banks of the Firth of Forth. A further £10m was announced following an odour review at Seafield in 2018 and will be used to 'add additional capacity to the treatment process and ensure that odorous sewage waste is moved as quickly as possible from open areas to covered, odour extracted areas,' according to Scottish Water. Ben Macpherson, Edinburgh Northern and Leith MSP, said the delays to the project were 'disappointing' but could be attributed to 'external market challenges'. Mr Macpherson chairs the Seafield Stakeholders Group which brings together Scottish Water, Veolia, Edinburgh Council, SEPA and community representatives to discuss the operation of the plant, odour incidences and future investment. Seafield has been run by French company Veolia since 1999 under a PFI contract expiring in 2029 (Image: Scottish Water) He said: 'It's unfair that local residents have experienced unpleasant odours at times during recent weeks and months. 'While it is appreciated that this was mostly due to the exceptionally dry weather we had recently, the amount of complaints during the last months does also underline the importance of the planned investment by Scottish Water into the plant, to make sure the odour risk is meaningfully reduced as much and as soon as possible, in the near future.' The backbench SNP MSP asked the government for an update on the investment in the Scottish Parliament last month. Acting climate action minister, Alasdair Allan, told Mr Macpherson contractual obligations for the delivery of the £10m investment by Scottish Water lie with Veolia until 2029. The minister said: 'Scottish Water remains committed to delivering improvements for customers and will keep community representatives updated through the Seafield stakeholder group. 'Scottish Water is at an early stage in developing its plans to ensure a smooth transition of operational responsibility once the PFI contract expires.' Scottish Water has committed to building a new 'state-of-the-art facility' to replace Seafield after 2030 once it takes back control of the plant 'to meet the expected changing demands, population growth, replacement of equipment and new emerging technologies in wastewater treatment'. Mr Scanlon and Ms Simpson recalled a representative from the water body saying in a 2020 meeting around £100m would be spent on this project, however this figure was not confirmed by the organisation. More from our Edinburgh correspondent: 'They said £100m, it wasn't just me that heard that,' Mr Scanlon said. 'There were various other people that had heard that but when we got the minutes recently of that meeting there was no mention of it. It's disappeared.' Ms Simpson said: 'They're not being specific anymore - it was £100m, we've never seen it publicly in writing although three of four of us heard it. Everybody at the meeting heard it.' However she added it didn't matter how much was spent as long as it was 'enough to meet the needs for a state-of-the art plant for the whole of this area,' which she noted was set to grow with 2,700 new homes planned for the waterfront at Seafield, directly beside the sewage treatment facility. A Scottish Water spokesperson said: 'We are committed to investing in Seafield so that it will continue to serve as the primary treatment facility, with significant upgrades and improvements required to meet future demand and serve our customers into the next decades of this century.' 'We look forward to working constructively with the local community and stakeholders to address concerns and share progress.'