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Bucksburn council tenant furious as ‘monstrosity’ scaffolding to fix leaking roof left up for 17 weeks

The structure was placed outside Michael Leslie's Aberdeen home at the start of February.

The scaffolding outside Michael Leslie's Bucksburn council home. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson
The scaffolding outside Michael Leslie's Bucksburn council home. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

An Aberdeen council tenant has accused the local authority of wasting money on “monstrosity” scaffolding left outside of his house for 17 weeks.

Michael Leslie, 41, who lives in Bucksburn is concerned about the amount of money it had cost for the scaffolding to sit unused outside his property.

The structure was assembled at the beginning of February, at the front and back of the semi-detached house in Westwood Place, to fix some loose tiles.

A loose tile on Michael Leslie’s council house. Image supplied by Michael Leslie

Mr Leslie had been having problems with his roof and leaking gutters that were causing his windows to rot.

Council ‘wasting money’ on unused scaffolding

After speaking to a scaffolder, the tenant became worried when he discovered the average cost of hiring the equipment per week.

He reckons the local authority is pouring much-needed money down the drain by hiring it out for such a prolonged period of time.

Mr Leslie understands it could cost in the region of £800-£1,200 per week.

Over 17 weeks, this could amount to around £17,000.

AbScaff hired the structure out to the council some four months ago, and charge weekly for it. Image: Kath Flannery/DC Thomson

This comes at a time when the council’s housing budget is being stretched by the Raac crisis in Torry – with the cash to rehome those hundreds coming from this account.

It means upgrades planned at various other properties are being delayed until next year.

The angry resident said: “What’s more concerning for me is the cost for the scaffolding to be up – I could have had a whole new roof.

“With this council right now it seems like an open cheque book. They’re just wasting money.

“I would like to know how much this has cost the taxpayer.”

What does the council have to say?

The ongoing repairs had also “upset neighbours” as their properties had been damaged in the process.

The past four months of disruption has had an impact on Mr Leslie’s home life and he said he was not given any warning when the workers would appear.

When the scaffolding was first assembled, a hole was drilled into the side of the house which “burst” some of the brickwork.

Mr Leslie says his neighbour’s property was damaged and still needs to be painted. Image supplied by Michael Leslie

This became an additional repair that Mr Leslie had to report back to the council.

A spokeswoman for Aberdeen City Council told The Press and Journal that the roof repair work was completed on May 28.

They also told us that the scaffolding would be removed before the end of the week.

However, Mr Leslie claims the job still isn’t finished as painting needs to be done.

In response, the local authority spokeswoman said: “There is a job in place to paint the soffit to match the existing.

“We will look at the tile and, if required, this will be repaired.”


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