'Tens of millions' needed to fix village rocked by old mining works

On Monday the UK Government confirmed the unprecedented ground movement in the town, which saw almost 100 families evacuated, is linked to historic coal mining. This means the evacuated families are now protected by the law and the UK Government must cover any costs.

It is understood the funding for this is not capped and will come out of the UK Treasury’s reserves. The UK Government will also reimburse any costs incurred by both the Scottish Government and Clackmannanshire Council.

UK Energy Minister Michael Shanks warned there will continue to be “massive disruption” to the affected families that cannot be resolved overnight.

Speaking to journalists, UK Energy Minister Michael Shanks said the Mining Remediation Authority will look at each individual household’s circumstances and do repair work where possible, but stressed the ground movement is “ongoing”.

He said: “Where that’s not possible, either when it’s just economically more expensive to repair than the actual value of the house, or where it just physically isn’t safe to do so, the MRA will purchase the house.”

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He added: “This isn’t going to be resolved overnight, we’ve got to just be really honest about that.

“This is the hardest bit, and I’m not going to make any bones about it - it is incredibly difficult to say to families that we don’t know exactly the timeframe.

“The aim is to move as quickly as we can but it will be weeks and months rather than days and that is rely hard for residents who have already had weeks of disruption to their lives.”

The government may offer to purchase the most seriously damaged properties at full market value, and provide support to help families relocate if necessary.

Affected families will be given options for their properties in the coming weeks and months.

Carl Banton, Chief Operations Director at the Mining Remediation Authority said: “The safety and welfare of residents remain the priority for every partner involved in the response.

“We are working closely with Clackmannanshire Council and the local resilience partnership to make sure that support remains in place and that everyone has a clear point of contact.

“We will be contacting affected residents directly to explain what this means for them personally, and to talk through the support that is available.

“We are committed to keeping you informed at every stage of this recovery phase, and we are working hard to ensure that this community is safe.”

The Mining Remediation Authority says it has contacted all affected households to put immediate support in place and each family will be given a named community support account manager.

Investigations are still ongoing in Coalsnaughton as there are still signs of ground movement.

Scottish Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville visited the town on Monday along with Mr Shanks. She said: “The Scottish Government will continue to participate in the resilience and recovery operation and work with Clackmannanshire Council.

“The Scottish Government has made £1 million available to the council to support residents, and we understand that some of this will now be reimbursed by the MRA.

“The Scottish Government has confirmed that this will be made available to the council and that financial flexibilities remain in place so they can continue to provide support to residents.”

She added: “I urge the MRA to ensure claims for remediation or compensation are dealt with as quickly as possible.”