'A community at breaking point': Inside the Coalsnaughton evacuations
The ground is moving underneath the former mining village of Coalsnaughton as residents face difficult choices over their future
Many streets of the village of Coalsnaughton are now deserted after residents were forced to flee their homes due to ground movement - but some in the former mining village are holding firm.
Almost 100 families have so far evacuated their houses, which sit on the site of a former shallow coal mine, while others are choosing to stay put.
“It is a worry. We are anxious every day,” said resident Fiona Powell, who is among those who have decided to remain.
The legacy of Coalsnaughton’s industrial foundations are being felt long after the collieries which opened in the late 19th Century wound down in the following decades.
In the past couple of weeks, tests have found the ground is moving up to 20 millimetres every single day.
Families living in Nechtan Drive, Benbuck Drive and Dunmoss View, which are all parallel to each other and built over the former mine, have all been displaced into other towns and villages in the area.
However those in Langour, the next street along, are defiantly holding on. Living on the edge of the cordon that has been set up in the village, cracks have started appearing on the walls in their homes.
But unlike the newbuild houses in the other three streets, their houses are 200 years old - and they believe they will stand firm.
“We are not going,” Lezley Creevy told Scotland on Sunday. “This house has been here for over 200 years and is made differently from the others on the streets above that are moving.
“We feel safer in our own homes.
“I have cracks in my house now, so we are just living day-to-day.
“I couldn’t get my backdoor locked and when the joiner came he said this is why it is no longer shutting.
“It is horrific and obviously we will get going if it becomes unsafe, because even the mining authority has not seen anything like this before.”
Ms Creevy added: “This is a very small council that doesn’t have the resources. This is a community at breaking point.”
She and others in the street have started to move some of their belongings out as they believe they may be forced out soon, but said “most have decided to stay put”.
Neighbour Ross Macphee lives in the last house before the cordon that has been created.
He said: “Our utilities are still switched on, so we are choosing to remain.
“I have no cracks so I am happy staying here, but it is a waiting game at the moment.
“There is cause for hope and cause for concern.
“We are getting by as we are sticking together in this street. It’s a really lovely community and that is the reason I don’t want to get up and go, but it’s terrible and my heart goes out to the people on the other streets.
“They are definitely the ones that are the most hard done by.
“We put our life savings into this house and we don’t want to leave while it is still safe. We don’t have a deathwish, but we want to stay”.
The closeness of the community is clear to see, with some neighbours bringing round a birthday cake to Naomi Stevenson as we speak to her. She has decided to remain in her home.
Ms Stevenson added: “We can’t just get up and go. The council has tried to put us out twice already .
“They told us we have to go, but when we spoke to the mining authority they said we didn’t need to because the damage is minimal for us, so we are not going.”
The cake is from neighbours Fiona and Gregor Powell, who started noticing internal and external cracking in their walls a couple of weeks ago.
However, they are choosing to remain in their home as engineers from the Mining Remediation Authority - the UK government agency which manages environmental and safety legacies of historical coal mining - told them it is safe to stay.
They are both worried and anxious about what happens next.
Ms Powell said: “It is horrendous our neighbours have had to leave and my heart goes out to them, but the damage up there is a bit different.”
“We’ve been told to leave by the council but that contradicts the advice we’ve had from the mining authority.
“It’s tricky, but the contradicting information is alarmist.”
Her husband added: “We know they are doing their best but it is tricky for us because we have dogs.
“We were offered to move into a top floor flat which wasn’t suitable so then we were told we could move to a family room in a Travelodge.
“I said no because I can’t leave the dogs in a Travelodge while I go off to work, and their answer was ‘put them in the car’, which is illegal.”
He added: “This house was an investment, but it might be worth nothing now.”
The evacuations came after reports of “unsafe structures” on May 18.
Neighbours say drilling on the three evacuated streets has now begun to help find the cause of the ground movement, and Clackmannanshire Council says this will take another eight weeks to complete.
There is a belief among the community that those who have been evacuated will never be able to return to their homes.
At a meeting held earlier this week, the council’s chief executive Nikki Bridle said: “During the meeting Carl Banton, chief operation director for the Mining Remediation Authority explained that work is continuing at pace to establish the cause of the incident.
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“A further eight weeks will be needed for the MRA to investigate the cause of the ground movement.
“Carl outlined the works that have been undertaken and shared images to help residents understand how the ground is moving.”
She added: “The priority of all local resilience partners continues to be the safety and welfare of everyone involved, our offices remain in the local area to provide guidance and support to residents during what we appreciate is a worrying and uncertain time.
“Our thoughts are with the residents affected by this incident, and we understand that this news will be concerning for them.”
Drop-off points for emergency supplies have been set up in the community, including at Tillicoultry Primary School and The Gate community hub in Alloa.
However, the residents Scotland on Sunday spoke to are sceptical of the support that will be offered to them by the local authority if they do have to leave their homes.
They say there is a great amount of mistrust in Clackmannanshire Council amongst the residents, and believe that as Scotland’s smallest mainland local authority, it does not have the resources to deal with the situation.
Mr Macphee said: “The council could show up at any moment. They’ve tried to get us out twice before even though they have had no legal basis to do so.
“They said, ‘is there anything we can say to entice you out of the house?’
“They are telling us our houses are crumbling around us but we know that is not true because these are old houses.
“There has been a lot of scaremongering from the council.”
He claims those who have been evacuated already were given as little as 30 seconds to leave their properties, and said dealing with the local authority had been “eye-opening”.
“It is worrying, I can’t trust the council to be impartial here,” he said. “They have broken a lot of trust here and they don’t seem to be on the ball.”
Mr Macphee said some of the distrust stems from flats with RAAC concrete in nearby Tillicoultry, where those evacuated have not been allowed to return to their homes for three years.
Clackmannanshire Council has asked the Scottish Government for financial assistance, and First Minister John Swinney visited the village and the cordon on Friday.
He said: “This is a very distressing situation for the residents of Coalsnaughton who have had to leave their homes with no clear indication of when they might be able to return.
“I understand the urgency of resolving this issue at the earliest possible opportunity so people can get their lives back on track, and I welcome the opportunity to hear about the work being done to support them.
“Whilst it is necessary that the Mining Remediation Authority carries out safety investigations, people are understandably concerned about the length of time this might take.
“It is absolutely critical that they are provided with clear communication and further clarity as soon as possible on what will happen in the coming weeks.”
Justice Secretary Neil Gray has also written to UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband to make sure the investigations are carried out “as quickly as possible”, and Mr Swinney has vowed to stay in close contact with Clackmannanshire Council.
The issue has also been brought to the attention of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
Alloa and Grangemouth MP Brian Leishman raised it at prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons earlier in the week, and asked him to commit to working with both the council and the Scottish Government to make sure there is a “speedy and fair resolution”.
In response, Sir Keir said: “I do know how difficult it is for residents who are not in their homes, and can I reassure him and them that the MRA are carrying out daily investigations to get answers as swiftly as possible.
“We’re also working with the council to provide support for residents. I can confirm the energy minister is in touch with MSPs, and I will ensure that my honourable friend and his constituents are kept updated on the next steps.”
Clackmannanshire Council has been approached for comment. The Mining Remediation Authority said it was unable to speak to Scotland on Sunday.
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