Evacuated Coalsnaughton resident fears family will miss Christmas at home

A resident of a former Clackmannanshire mining village who was evacuated from her home due to ground movement has said she fears her family will not be allowed back in time for Christmas.

More than 250 residents in four streets in Coalsnaughton were told to move out after ground movement was discovered in May.

An investigation into the cause by the Mining Remediation Authority (MRA) is not expected to conclude until late July.

Some residents claim they are not being given clear answers to questions about the work now being carried out or when they may get home.

A total of 97 properties in Benbuck View, Dunmoss View, Nechtan Drive and Langour have been evacuated.

The MRA updated residents about the work and its progress at a meeting on Tuesday.

Benbuck View resident Andrea Turnbull, who was one of the first to be evacuated in May, said she left the meeting fearing that her family could be out of their home until next year.

She said: "Last night, as a result of a question that was asked, it was confirmed from the MRA that after the point where the ground has stopped moving, they would be looking to monitor the ground for another six months, which effectively means we're out for Christmas."

She said the situation had been "stressful" for her family.

"I think we know that we're going to be out for more months.

"If people could be upfront and communicate that to us open and honestly we could maybe seek to plan a bit more, but they're not at the moment."

Other property owners have expressed dissatisfaction with the standard of the temporary accommodation arranged by the council, which includes student flats at Stirling University.

Andrea Turnbull, her husband and children are now staying in privately-rented accommodation in Alloa.

The family have the property until the end of July, but do not know what will happen afterwards.

She said: "The insurance company at the moment are struggling to allow us to submit a claim because we don't know what we're claiming against, because the council and the MRA cannot get together and tell us what to submit a claim for."

Andrea said she also feared what will happen if they are allowed back to their home.

She said: "We fully believe we will be living there forever, we won't have anything to pass on to our girls because the house value will be zero, essentially.

"And not just that - we'll forever have ongoing safety concerns."

Some of the evacuated homes are housing association properties - others are owned by their residents.

Many housing association tenants were offered alternative social housing, although in some cases this has been well away from the village.

Another resident told BBC Scotland News after the meeting: "I came away with no answers and was more confused.

"It is getting to the point I just want to be told facts, regardless if that means condemned houses or an extended period of time in accommodation elsewhere."

Carl Banton, the MRA's chief operation director, said he wanted to assure the community that the authority was "doing all we can as quickly as possible."

He said: "At the residents' meeting we shared what investigations have taken place to date, and what we plan to do over the next few weeks, which includes installing monitoring equipment in the boreholes that we have drilled which will provide essential data to help us understand whether ground movement has stabilised."

Clackmannanshire Council said it has tried to organise temporary accommodation and put residents in touch with agencies able to offer help and support.

Nikki Bridle, the local authority's chief executive, said: "Our officers continue to work tirelessly to support residents during what we appreciate is an extremely worrying and uncertain time.

"Clackmannanshire Council continues to engage directly with residents impacted by this incident and provide support to those residents with temporary accommodation and other welfare related support.

"Updates on this provision was provided at the meeting."

The Scottish government recently said it would give the council an extra £1m to help it deal with the costs of the crisis.

The money will be used to cover expenses the local authority has incurred as a result of its emergency response, including temporary housing, welfare and staffing.