Dunfermline: Fife Council haven't fixed unsafe wall

Brian Burrell, of Barrie Place, said the boundary between his property and the public footpath, which is three metres high in places, has been crumbling and he had a lucky escape after rendering and loose masonry crashed to the ground and narrowly missed him.

He said he and three neighbours had pay £6,000 between them, after being sent a "threatening" letter by the council telling them to get it fixed or face action, but said the local authority have done nothing to make safe the section of the wall they're responsible for.

Brian said: "It's been chaos. The walls have all been falling down because of all the rain, the rendering has come off and everything.

The walls at Barrie Place are three metres high and residents say loose masonry and rendering has been crashing to the ground. (Image: Brian Burrell)

"They're about three metres high.

"Fife Council's safety standards lot cordoned off the path with barriers and we thought they might help us but they did the opposite.

"They sent us a threatening letter, telling us to take action to get it fixed or else.

"And we're all pensioners. There are four of us up here who had to dig into our life savings, it cost us £1,500 each to get a builder to fix it."

He added: "The council came and took the barriers away but the wall outside two of the properties hasn't been done, and one of them is a council property.

"It's just not safe. Part of the wall fell when I was walking by and I only just managed to dive out of the way or I could have been killed.

"As it is I've hurt my shoulder pretty badly."

The letter to the neighbours from a council building standards surveyor said he'd inspected the wall outside 10-20 Barrie Place - six even numbered properties - and that it was a "potentially dangerous building".

Part of the walls have come away and crashed onto the public footpath below. (Image: Brian Burrell)

He said an action plan was needed and "should this not be forthcoming we will have no alternative but to take statutory action".

It said any costs incurred in securing public safety would need to be met by the owner and added: "I would highlight that our involvement and legal obligation / remit is only for removal of any potential and immediate danger to public safety.

"Please note that owners are responsible for adequate maintenance and repair of their property."

Brian hit out: "We spent our last money to get it fixed but the council haven't bothered to fix the wall outside a council property, which they've admitted is their responsibility.

"It's still not safe, and they haven't done anything about the wall outside the other property either."

Fife Council service manager for building standards Garry Nicoll confirmed that Mr Burrell contacted the council to report a potentially dangerous wall at his own property.

He said: “It’s the responsibility of all the relevant owners to maintain the privately owned walls. We put up temporary safety barriers to keep pedestrians away from the affected areas as the walls are next to a public footpath.

“Some owners have now completed work to their walls and barriers have been removed. However, unfortunately barriers have also been removed from walls that are still to be repaired. 

"We are making arrangements for these barriers to be reinstated as a matter of urgency until the repairs can be carried out.”