Three quarters of streets hit by heavy flooding are still awaiting investigation to avoid a repeat of the carnage seen last summer.

Of the 451 areas where excess water was reported in August last year, 61 have had measures implemented to reduce the impact of future flood events while 57 are presently under investigation.

Another 328 are still awaiting investigation – 73 per cent in all.

Council environment boss Ken Gourlay says more schemes will be coming soon, and has urged residents to be patient.

“Delivering flooding schemes can be a complex and time-consuming process and there will need to be an element of flexibility in delivering identified schemes,” he wrote in a report presented to councillors last week.

“Time is now needed to expand the team [and] delve into the large list of investigation sites during this calendar year.”

However, there are some areas where council officers have concluded there is nothing that can be done to reduce the impact of flooding in future.

These are the A921 at Starley Burn near Burntisland, Eden Valley Gardens in Freuchie and Cash Feus and Bankwell Crescent in Strathmiglo.

Fife Council is spending millions of pounds on tackling flood risks following last summer’s catastrophic heavy rains. The impact of the downpours was so great that the local partnership of the council and emergency services declared a major incident.

As part of this year’s budget officers have been given £450k to investigate the immediate impact of last year’s floods, and an extra £500k will be spent every year for the next decade on larger, more permanent defences.

Shields against flooding are already being designed for some of the worst-hit parts of the region including Lade Braes in Dalgety Bay and streets in Culross, Kinglassie, Cowdenbeath and Cairneyhill.

Areas of heavy sediment alongside water courses in the likes of Cardenden, Kinghorn and Kirkcaldy are being targeted to reduce the risk of muck flowing into people’s homes, while flood pods have been ordered for high-risk parts of Freuchie, Kinglassie and Culross.

While councillors have welcomed the progress made over recent months, some are worried that high-risk areas have been missed by officers prioritising non-residential areas over those inhabited by Fifers.

Kirkcaldy Central Labour rep Judy Hamilton said: “I’m not really understanding why non-residential areas are under investigation but there are residential areas still to be investigated.

“Did we look at frequency [of flooding] or deprivation or community resilience?

“Those are not figures we don’t know. Those are figures that everybody knows, that are out in the public domain.

“Some of these poorer communities that have been flooded frequently still appear to be ‘to be investigated’ and looking at what’s coming forward in 2021/22 they look like they’re quite a way down the line.”

Responding to Cllr Hamilton, environment boss Ken Gourlay said: “We’re trying to get through these and some of these are well-known, some are relatively simple, some are more complex in terms of solutions here.

“The points you make are valid. We do want to take that into account as we consider how we allocate funding for some of these bigger problems.

“It’s fair to say the team have a large backlog. We’re well aware of the vulnerability of some residents and that we need to help these communities.”