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  • 19/06/13
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Bantaskine residents live in fear for safety

Dennis Goldie on the scaffolding in question

Dennis Goldie on the scaffolding in question

Fed-up tenants were fuming about scaffolding left outside their high-rise homes for weeks.

It had originally been installed to find out why water was seeping into balconies at Greenbank Court, Bantaskine.

But for the last two months nothing has happened – with Falkirk Council claiming they still need to test it with lots of water.

Meanwhile, elderly residents in the first four floors of the multi-storey block have been unable to open their windows fully and are being pestered by youngsters climbing the scaffold.

Several tenants contacted Councillor Dennis Goldie to highlight concerns.

This week, he urged the local authority to act immediately to solve the problem.

Mr Goldie said: “It’s unbelievable that people have had to put up with this for so long.

“I received a number of complaints from residents attending my surgery and after contacting officials, I find it amazing that the delay is being blamed on a need to carry out water pressure testing.

“Have they not seen the amount of rain that we’ve had in recent weeks? Surely that would be enough to determine whether there is still water ingress.”

The councillor called on council services to ensure the work was completely quickly.

Tenants were notified of the work being carried out in May and the scaffolding erected on July 27. Investigations were then carried out in August.

He added: “We have people living in this block who for the last four months have had a real fear of burglars being able to access their homes via the scaffolding, as well as having to put up with the nuisance of youngsters climbing on it.

“The work is being carried out by the council’s development services on behalf of housing services. Like any other contractor working for the council they should be giving us a timetable for the work at the start and sticking to it.

“To date, no-one has been able to tell me when it will be finished and the people living in Greenbank Court can have peace of mind.”

A Falkirk Council spokesman said: “Scaffolding was erected to provide external access to a vacant flat on the second floor of the building to allow investigations to be carried out to establish possible causes of ongoing water penetration.

“The investigations have involved specialist surveying, stripping of external components and investigations of the junctions between the balcony windows and the adjacent building structure.

“A final test with high pressure water is to be carried out on Monday to identify weaknesses in the weatherproof junctions around the balcony area, and the scaffolding is scheduled to be removed shortly thereafter.

“This last pressure test has been delayed due to difficulties in arranging for the presence of technical representatives from the window supplier to attend the testing.’

The cost of the work has not been revealed by the council.

 

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