Council response to Coalsnaughton incident discussed

An update on how the Council is responding to the ongoing emergency at Coalsnaughton was given at a meeting earlier today.

The Council has statutory duties in terms of Civil Contingency legislation as a Category 1 responder.

Councillors heard how officers were first called to the village on the evening of 18 May after residents reported possible ground movement at Benbuck View.

Cracking and what appeared to be movement of roads, footpaths, gardens, drives and damage to properties were observed. 

Multi-agency meetings, which included the Mining Remediation Authority (MRA), as well as Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, took place to coordinate the response.

All residents were evacuated safely and taken to Devonvale Hall and those who required it were housed in temporary accommodation.

The Forth Valley Local Resilience Partnership and the Council’s Incident Management Team were stood up on 19 May and, following continued investigations by the MRA in The Glen area, further evacuations took place at Dunmoss View on 27 May and on 29 May at Nechtan Drive and Langour.

On 27 May, the emergency was declared a major incident and on 2 June residents were informed that investigations by the MRA would continue for a further eight weeks

The Devonvale Hall became a drop-in centre in the first few weeks of the emergency where those affected could source support and information. It was also where the efforts to provide temporary housing solutions was focused.

The Council has applied a consistent approach to support all households requiring temporary accommodation, including private residents.

The meeting also heard that the Council has been working closely with Kingdom Housing Association, as they have several affected tenants.

As well as finding temporary housing solutions for the affected residents, Council officers have been leading on caring for the residents involved.

This included coordination of welfare and emotional support to the residents in areas including financial, childcare, transport, pets, insurance and utilities, health and linking with GPs. 

The Council’s STRIVE (Safeguarding through Rapid Intervention) model was put in place to ensure this support was met.

Direct communication channels were set up in the early days of the emergency so residents could be quickly updated.

The meeting heard a significant number of Council staff have been deployed to support the incident, drawn from services across all Council Directorates.

This has led to staff taking on substantial additional workloads, often balancing emergency response duties alongside their existing responsibilities.

Media interest has been exceptionally high and this has been one of, if not the most, prolonged emergency incidents ever managed by the Council’s communications team, with high interest across local, regional, Scottish and UK print, radio and broadcast media.

Following the visit of the First Minister on 5 June, £1 million of funding was announced by the Scottish Government for the Council’s ongoing work supporting those affected.

Council leader, Councillor Ellen Forson said: “This ongoing emergency incident is unprecedented in our area, and my overriding thoughts remain firmly with our residents who are directly affected by the ground movement and the subsequent evacuations.

“This continues to be a hugely unsettling and worrying time for them and the ongoing disruption to their lives simply cannot be overstated.

“I welcome the report as it does give valuable insight into the complex work Council officers are undertaking as part of the multi-agency response to this emergency.

“We are still in the emergency response phase of the incident and our officers, working alongside partners, will continue to do their best to provide ongoing support and keep residents informed as this situation progresses.”