The remaining residents in West Lothian’s ‘ghost town’ are making final preparations to move out.
Long suffering locals in Deans South have had to live in decaying homes in the derelict housing scheme whilst a row between housing developers and the council was settled.
The homes in Deans South were declared inhabitable in 2004 because materials used in the building process were considered to be unsafe.
Council tenants were quickly moved out, but owners of the homes fought with West Lothian Council for almost 20 years over the value of their properties.
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However, a deal was struck late in 2020 and Springfield Properties bought the land from West Lothian Council for £430,000 and will now provide the “home for a home” deal that the remaining residents demanded.
One of the homeowners, Kerry Mackintosh, spoke at the time and said she the deal was only fair.
She said: “I bought this place in 2002 and it was condemned two years later, in 2004.
“We shouldn’t have had to live like this, we are normal working-class people so why should we be diminished just because we own our house?
“It should have just been a fair deal right from the start, a house for a house, that is all we always asked for.”
Springfield Homes have now started work on 29 new council homes at the site in Deans South and all the derelict homes are expected to be bulldozed early in 2022.
Kerry is expecting to move in to her new home by Easter and is hunkering down for one last winter in her old derelict home.
She said: “We’ve got one more winter. One more winter of keeping the weather out, but now we know we are moving. We’ll be in a temporary home from Easter but then we’ll be in our new home from home.”
Despite having lived a miserable existence for 20 years Kerry says she has become attached to the old house and leaving it behind will be tough.
She added: “I’ll be in tears. Tears of happiness, but also tears of sadness. As a family we have very happy memories inside this home. My kids grew up in this house- it’s the only home they’ve known.
“Happy memories we can take with us to our new home.”
