Residents launch land legal actions

Oct 9 2012

Dozens of housing estate residents have launched legal proceedings over claims their homes were built on contaminated land.

Lawyers said some of the residents in and around the estate off Watling Street in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, suffer from a number of health complaints caused by exposure to "neuro-toxic vapours".

They claim the properties were built on land that was not properly decontaminated after it fell out of industrial use and have raised 42 separate civil actions with the courts, representing a total of 78 people.

They are asking for the alleged contamination to be properly fixed and are seeking damages for an amount not yet specified, lawyers confirmed.

Collins Solicitors, representing the families, said the action is being brought against North Lanarkshire Council, City Link Development Company Ltd and Scott Wilson (Scotland) Ltd.

Households which include social housing tenants have raised proceedings against either Lanarkshire Housing Association (LHA) or Clyde Valley Housing Association.

The legal firm said it has maintained for more than two years that the properties were built on land that was "not fully remediated following a history of heavy industrial use".

The former site had handled and processed metals and chemicals. Materials said to have been found at the site include trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE) polychloranated biphenols and polyaromatic hydrocarbons.

Air testing at 25 of the properties last year also confirmed that levels of toxic material in the indoor air were higher than the acceptable levels set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO), lawyers said.

The recent legal developments come after an initial "test case" was filed in July, against LHA, on behalf of Angela and Robert McManus. The case, being dealt with by the same legal firm, centres around similar claims - that the land's previous incarnation as a location for factories and industrial plants is behind health issues at the estate.