Residents in Coalsnaughton were told on Thursday evening that 60 homes on Benbuck View and Dunmoss View must be demolished after ground subsidence damaged the area. The decision leaves 97 evacuated homes split between demolition, repair and further stabilisation work.
Carl Banton and Coalsnaughton
Carl Banton, the MRA chief operations director, said the assessments showed the scale of damage and the next steps for each affected area and property. He said the most serious impacts remained on Benbuck View and Dunmoss View, where 46 homes had damage and risk severity beyond rehabilitation.
“The assessments show that each street affected is experiencing ground movement and property damage in different ways and to different levels,” he said on Friday. He said the MRA had completed structural engineering assessments, ground investigations and an appraisal of the options available to make the area safe.
Alan Cameron on trauma
Alan Cameron, chair of the Coalsnaughton Evacuees Residents Group, said the strain on families had been severe. “The trauma is absolutely unreal. Nobody, absolutely nobody, gets the trauma that you're going through as an individual and as a family trying to keep this together for everybody,” he told the.
The village’s split outcome is what makes the announcement harder to absorb for residents. The 60 homes on Benbuck View and Dunmoss View are set for demolition, but the 37 homes in Langour and Nechtan Drive can be repaired, with officials saying that work could take a year.
Langour and Nechtan Drive
Banton said repairs were expected to follow at Langour once ground stabilisation had taken place. He also said further stabilisation was planned near Nechtan Drive, alongside road repairs on The Glen, with support still in place through named contacts, account managers and a local community liaison officer.
In July, Michael Shanks said the cost of supporting the households affected by the ground movement could run into tens of millions of pounds. For residents now facing demolition planning, the next step is the approvals process for the MRA’s proposed approach to acquire and demolish the properties on the two worst-hit streets.
