One by one, the affectionately named “hen houses” of Balnagask – earmarked for demolition – are becoming empty.
It means those awaiting new homes – or answers about the value of their houses – now exist among boarded-up buildings and obvious vandalism – often without the support and friendship of longstanding neighbours, family and friends.
For the last six weeks features writer Lindsay Bruce has embedded herself in this Aberdeen suburb amid reports of safety fears, health hazards and increased social isolation.
This is what she discovered:
- A grandmother scared to let her dogs out at night
- Men raiding bins by the garden gates of women
- Children witnessing drug taking outside bedroom window
- Mum-of-six isolated and fearful due to empty homes all aroundÂ
- Pensioner feeling unsafe in her own homeÂ
- Retired homeowners who feel forgotten
‘I no longer let my dogs out at night,’ says gran Paula
“Let’s go for a walk,” Paula Fraser says. “It’s not too far to my little piece of heaven.”
Retired support worker Paula is taking me to her council house in Burnbank Place. It’s not my first walkabout in the streets and stairwells of Balnagask, but it is the most eye-opening.
After interviewing more than 35 people affected by Raac, I ask Paula about their safety concerns.
“I’ll show you,” she said.
“I’ve not moved yet,” she explains, as we walk around the area, past rubbish on the ground and a vandalised property near her home.
“My new house needs to be more secure. I feel unsafe here, I’m not moving where I know no one just to feel even more scared there.
“I can’t even let my dogs out at night (in Torry) any more, I’m so terrified. I’ve had to buy puppy pads and keep them indoors.”
‘Torry’s had it’s problems, but not like this’
Paula is just one of hundreds of Aberdeen City Council tenants in the process of being rehomed.
Although more than a hundred households have been relocated, as of this week, another 140 council-tenant households still remain. Often this means being the only ones left in a terrace of vacated houses. And this applies even if they are among the 64 households that have accepted offers on new properties.
“It actually breaks my heart,” she says, “This place is being taken from us piece by piece.
“It’s not just broken fences, overflowing bins and smashed windows, it’s the breakdown of what was once a safe, happy community.”
I was sent pictures by a resident wishing to remain anonymous of men rummaging through bins near to her gate.
“This is life now demolition is decided,” she said.
‘My little girl watched drug users outside her window’
For families still in Balnagask the everyday reality of existing in a housing estate that will soon no longer exist is far from pleasant.
When I visited the area on September 19 I observed unsafe, empty properties, flytipping, overflowing bins, bulky goods, unkempt common areas and an increase in vandalism, compared to previous visits.
A mum-of-four, whose home I visited, is fearful for her children’s safety after her 10-year-old watched “men doing strange things” in the stairwell opposite her daughter’s bedroom window.
“She shouldn’t need to know about drug paraphernalia, but she does because she watched two intoxicated or drunk men doing drugs metres from my home. And before anyone asks, it’s since the Raac house moves. It’s never been as bad as this.”
‘As a woman, I understand the concerns’
As a female journalist in Aberdeen I’ve spent numerous days in Torry over the years. It is increasingly intimidating, even during the day, to now walk through rows of empty, dishevelled properties. I understand the growing sense of apprehension.
The mother of a young adult living with her partner told me she constantly worries about her daughter’s safety when her son-in-law isn’t at home. They’re the only ones left in their block.
So I asked Aberdeen City Council what maintenance, safety and security measures are in place.
While Police Scotland told me there is no increase in crimes reported, ACC said there is ongoing engagement with the Community Safety Partnership and local policing teams.
In addition, recommendations from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Police Scotland are now in place.
These include changing locks and checking doors within two days of a property being vacated, adding security film to windows, and having council staff on site every weekday.
Residents confirmed this to be the case.
One woman did tell me that she believed a property I pointed out, with several smashed windows, “must be private, or else the council would have patched it up.”
Are council safety measures enough?
I checked with Aberdeen City Council what steps are taken to make safe vacated properties.
ACC said it aims to:
- replace smoke alarms with 10-year battery stand-alone alarms, which will act as early-warning measures for neighbours
- turn off gas, water and electricity
- carry outdated dilapidation surveys on each property
- maintain grass-cutting
- continue bin collections as normal with Balnagask being prioritised.
“Regular checks are undertaken for flytipping and any additional reported flytipping is uplifted,” the spokesman added.
On visiting again on September 26, the day I received the local authority’s response, I did see numerous council teams mowing grass.
ACC vans were also spotted outside empty properties.
However, just a one-hour walk on these same streets again revealed a raft of issues.
On each occasion, I asked residents of the closest occupied property, how long unsealed homes, rubbish-strewn grass, and fly-tipping had been left. ‘Weeks’ or ‘months’ was the response.
I also spoke to a nearby ACC operative to report an empty property with no front door and obvious signs of drinking and drug taking within its perimeter. I’m assured it was dealt with later in the day.
‘I’m scared,’ said mum of six Nina, ‘now my neighbours have gone’
Nina Klontnitska, who moved to the UK 12 years ago from Ukraine with her husband, has lived in Torry for three years. The mum-of-six is about to be rehomed in Mastrick.
“It’s become a little bit scary,” she says holding one of her two-year-old twins, in view of fly-tipped rubbish.
“There used to be lots of people here, and we are now surrounded by empty homes.
“We had a really good relationship with this community so when we move it’s like starting over.”
‘Families are being pulled apart, it’s more than house moves’
But is it that simple, to move house, and uproot from everyone and everything you know? Or worse, remain when all around you is gone?
Paula doesn’t think so.
“There are families who no longer have nearby child care. Elderly people who will no longer have a friendly neighbour to check in on them. I know of one family who will now be split up because the older ones are deemed able to look after themselves. Can you imagine your family being pulled apart?”
As I walk back to my car, I see Pam Milne’s house. I’ve met with Pam, who is a private homeowner, before. For years Pam has popped in on her ageing neighbour each day.
Hanging out crisp white washing on a windless day, it’s the perfect picture of Balnagask right now: the day-to-day tasks keep going, but at the same time life, for many families, is at a painful standstill.
“And the thing about being in this limbo, is that it dominates all your thoughts,” Pam, 67, said.
Even in the few weeks since we first chatted over coffee, I can see the situation is getting to her.
“I am finding it really tough. I feel incredibly vulnerable surrounded by empty homes. And I feel guilty. My daughter moved in over the road to be nearer me and now I might need to move.
“Even my neighbour has moved.
“I’ve never felt unsafe in my home before. I’m not ashamed to say it’s affecting my health.”
‘We feel forgotten about since Raac was found in Balnagask’
Around 150 private houses, and the people residing within, are also still part and parcel of this Torry community. Since finding out their homes are to be demolished owners await news of how and when their houses will be valued ahead of voluntary or compulsory purchase orders.
Meg McGregor is 67 and now retired. She’s been in her Pentland Crescent home for 40 years but bought it from the council with her husband Peter in 1999, under the right-to-buy scheme.
Her home is in a row of four, all privately owned. She lives next door to her best friend Avril, in close proximity to empty houses.
“I can’t tell you the stress. We were so happy here,” Meg says.
“People think a lot of stuff about Torry, we know that, we’re not daft. There have been issues in this area over the years.
“But unless you live here, and have built a life here, you can’t understand what this process is like, or how much worse things have become.
“I know the council keeps saying it’s there to support us but that’s not how we feel.”
‘A bit of care from the council would go a long way,’ says Meg, 67
“We just feel forgotten about,” Avril Ewen adds.
“When we look around our view is now just memories of what we used to have. It’s the complete erosion of a community. And not for the first time. Why is it always the people of Torry to suffer?”
Social media updates from the Raac diaspora regularly express sadness and suffering.
‘Missing Torry today since moving in July’ and ‘sitting here in my new house in Bridge of Don crying. It’s beautiful, but it’s no Torry,’ to quote just two.
“But do you know what?” adds Meg. “If the council would just fight our corner and give us the sense that they care enough to press the government for help, it would go a very long way.
“Instead, everything we have worked for is being taken, we have to live in a mess, and it certainly doesn’t feel like we are cared about.”
A spokesman for Aberdeen City Council said: “Officers are regularly in dialogue with representatives of both governments seeking their support, either through direct contact with members or their officers.”
- You can sign the UK Raac Campaign Group petition, asking the Scottish Government to help affected Raac families, here.
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