Luxury Motherwell housing estate safe again after problems sorted

Mar 10 2010 by Richard Mooney, Wishaw Press

RESIDENTS of Saville Row housing estate in Motherwell breathed a massive sigh of relief their problems were over this week.

For safety issues which plagued the luxury housing estate last year have now been resolved.

Last May, Wishaw Press reported that the safety of a wall supporting hilltop homes in the estate, near the new Motherwell College, was under question after a structural engineer pointed out several dangerous faults.

The expert warned the wall could erode in heavy rain and that “a sudden failure” of the support structure could not be ruled out.

If left unrepaired, the structural problems in the wall could have severely injured someone or caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to Saville Row properties.

As the company which built the homes, Manor Lane, was in receivership at the time, the administrators KPMG initially refused to carry out any repairs on the site – leaving residents worried about who was going to fix the wall.

Resident John Brennan contacted MP Frank Roy and Wishaw councillor John Pentland about the situation, after which the two politicians immediately set to work on getting the safety problems resolved.

Last week North Lanarkshire Council confirmed last week that the repairs had been carried out by KPMG and structural safety of the estate was now up to scratch.

Motherwell and Wishaw MP Frank Roy said: “I’m delighted Saville Row estate has been given a clean bill of health.

“I’m grateful to KPMG and North Lanarkshire Council for all the time and effort that they put into this, especially KPMG for fixing all the outstanding problems.”

Mr Brennan, whose back garden contained the majority of the faulty wall, said the two Labour politicians’ help was “invaluable” in getting the wall repaired.

He said: “In the two years that I’ve lived in that home I looked at the problem every day.

“The amount of help I got from Mr Roy, Councillor Pentland and the council was great.

“If you look at the wall now compared to what it was last year, it’s a night and day transformation.”