Living by Red Road flats ‘like being in a desert’
Dust from derelict buildings and rubble is ruining lives of families
GLASGOW’S Red Road has turned into a dust storm in a desert, residents claim. Wind is throwing up clouds of grit from the now abandoned high rises, blackening doors and windows. Angela Cooke – who was moved from one of the towers to a new terrace nearby in 2011 – is sick of the filth blowing off the tower blocks, six of which still stand and two of which have been reduced to rubble. “It is like living in a desert,” the mother-of-two complained, her hand over her mouth. “The wind blows up the dust and gets everywhere, in your eyes. All our doors and windows are black.”
Ms Cooke lives on the stretch of Broomfield Road in the shadow of the Red Road scheme. Her home of three years is new but it looks out on the remains of a block pulled down two years ago and is just yards from the rubble of another.
Effectively, she and other neighbours live with unlicensed landfills – the rubble is full of tyres used to dampen the blast that brought down the blocks, as well as metal.
Glasgow Housing Association (GHA), which owns the flats, says it has the right to hold rubble on site under exemptions to usual rules that would force it to clear the mess.
The landlord plans to blow down the rest of the blocks this autumn and is waiting to begin a two-year clean-up operation. Vast quantities of rubble will need to be crushed and sorted. Some, when decontaminated, will stay on the site to help landscape the new-look Red Road. The rest will be trucked off.
Local councillor Phil Greene said: “Right now it is not nice, a terrible eyesore. But it will take two ears to remove it all and that will create its own problems with lorries moving about. GHA have decided to keep the rubble in place until they can sort the whole lot together.”
Mr Greene has been critical about the amount of time it has taken GHA to deal with the site. But he stressed that the operation was hugely complex.
David Fletcher, GHA’s director of regeneration, said: “We completely understand that, for people living nearby, this project is taking a long time and we would like to thank them for their patience and co-operation.”
He added: “We’ve had no complaints recently about dust from the site. Our contractor closely monitors dust levels and puts in place measures to deal with any issues quickly if needed.
“Any rubble on the site is being used to create protective cushioning for around the blocks during the blowdown. All environmental exemptions are in place to allow us to use this waste and it will be recycled after the demolition.”
The buildings have been covered in plastic sheeting, to try and keep dust down. And recent damp weather, say neighbours, means less grit has been blown their way.
One resident said: “It is still not very nice. Sometimes you can hardly see through your window.”
Ms Cooke’s daughter Elle is fed-up having to play outside in the filthy Red Road air. “I really hope they put up a play park for us instead of all this dirt,” said the nine-year-old.