Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Investigation into sewage that has been spilling onto busy Inverness street since last summer

Academy Street in Inverness
Academy Street in Inverness

Investigations are being carried out in Inverness city centre after it emerged sewage has been spilling out onto a busy street – since the summer.

Environmental health staff and Scottish Water visited the Academy Street site yesterday, where they held talks with staff at a nearby restaurant to try to resolve the issue.

The unhygienic leak is running from a lane beside the Filling Station restaurant onto the busy thoroughfare, which is just minutes away from the city’s train station.

Last night, Highland Council said investigations were ongoing to establish the cause of the problem.

And the utility firm confirmed that it has known about the problem since last summer, advising the issue is with a private drain linked to the restaurant.

The council also admitted that there have been “occasions” of sewage being evident on the road surface.

City centre community leader Pat Hayden last night described the length of time it has taken to solve the issue “unacceptable” and a “health and safety” issue.

And city taxi drivers, who have a rank which sits next to the lane, also hit out – with a trade leader branding the situation a “health hazard”.

Mrs Hayden, chairwoman of Crown and City Centre Community Council, said: “If there’s a problem like that then that needs to be sorted straight away.

“I think it’s completely unacceptable, it becomes a health and safety issue in many ways.”

City centre councillor Bet McAllister was unaware of the issue until late last week.

She said: “There is a problem in the lane next to the hotel and the restaurant. It is obviously an issue and something that we don’t want happening.

“It needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible and the council and Scottish Water are working on it, while neither are directly responsible.”

Inverness Taxi Alliance chairman Andrew MacDonald said: “The sewage is coming out at times over the pavement where people are walking past.

“It’s an ongoing issue, it’s clearly a health hazard and it needs to be sorted.

“It’s totally in the hands of Scottish Water and the council.”

A Highland Council spokeswoman said: “The council’s environmental health officers met with representatives from Scottish Water and the Filling Station.

“Investigations are still on going to establish the cause of the problem. Until such time as further information becomes available, environmental health will continue to work with all relevant parties to secure a satisfactory solution.”

A spokeswoman for Scottish Water added: “Scottish Water is continuing to liaise with the restaurant and Highland Council about the issue of blockages and spills at a private drain, which is not part of our network, and will do everything we can to help the restaurant resolve this matter.

“We have checked our sewer network in the area several times, since the issue was reported to us last summer, and have confirmed that our network was clear and was not the cause of the blockages and spills.

“The cause was a kitchen drain being connected to surface water drains at the side of the restaurant.”

Leanne Folley, assistant manager at The Filling Station, described the situation as “terrible, not nice at all”.

She added that the sewage problem was not the restaurant’s responsibility and offered assurances that it was having no effect on customers.