£12,000 for Holyrood to dig then fill in holes

Published on Tuesday 19 May 2009 09:42

HOLYROOD bosses are to spend £12,000 digging holes in the pavement outside the Scottish Parliament – and filling them in again.

They have brought in contractors to spend the next two weeks carrying out excavations in the Canongate, Horse Wynd and Reid's Close to look for utility pipes and cables ahead of installing new security bollards along the building's perimeter.

But critics said the location of the pipes and cables should already be known because it is only five years since the 414m parliament was built.

Independent Lothians MSP Margo MacDonald said: "I can hardly believe this. There was that huge hole in the ground for so long; there was an archaeological dig; but no-one kept a record of where the gas pipes and water pipes went?

"Just when you think the parliament is showing a degree of maturity and cohesion, something else pops up."

And Edinburgh Pentlands Conservative MSP David McLetchie branded the excavations a waste of money.

He said: "I almost despair at the seemingly never-ending stories concerning Holyrood which to the general public would seem to reveal one incompetence after another.

"In a new building which cost so much money and took so long to construct, one would have thought there would be a clear idea about the position of the gas, electricity, telecoms and sewerage pipes, cables and drains. It is elementary that the whole site should have been fully surveyed."

Work started yesterday on digging "trial holes" in Reid's Close before the workmen move on to the Royal Mile and the area in front of the parliament's public entrance. Officials said there would be a total of nine holes dug in the footpath in the Canongate and Horse Wynd.

It is in preparation for the installation of 162 new bollards along the pavements, six leaf-shaped benches at the corner of the Canongate and 18 rectangular concrete benches near the ponds at the front of the building, all part of a 1.5m package of security measures which also includes new gates and turnstiles.

A memo has been circulated by the parliament to MSPs, staff and others in the building to warn of likely inconvenience while the excavation work is carried out.

The memo said: "The purpose of digging these holes is to determine the location of utility services. Building users will appreciate that before commencing works of installation of bollards and planters it is essential that we know where the services are."

A parliament spokeswoman said the main work on the new security measures was not due to start for a while and there was no estimate yet of how long they would take.