No solution

YOUR report (10 July) about flooding in Edinburgh, quotes the city council leader – referring to the bursting of temporary barriers and the flooding of the Colonies – as saying: “The incident underlined the need to improve flood defences along the river (the Water of Leith).”

In fact, it is the construction of the new flood defences that has caused this catastrophe for homeowners.

Anyone, never mind a qualified engineer, could tell you that if you reduce the width of a river by half then the water is going to flow faster and rise much ­quicker and higher when the course is in spate. The resulting breach was, therefore, foreseeable.

On more than one occasion during the works from Stockbridge to Canonmills, workmen have hurriedly ceased ­operations because of the water’s rapid rise.

At the same time, their heavy machines moving along the temporary road (reducing by half the width of the Water of Leith), have seen their caterpillar tracks half or fully submerged.

Knowing these conditions, the temporary safety measures should have been made far more robust.

Leslie Hodgson

St Stephen Place

Edinburgh