North Lanarkshire estate sue the council

Housing tenants in the Watling Street estate in Motherwell have taken legal action against either Lanarkshire Housing Association or Clyde Valley Housing Association in regards to toxic waste surrounding their neighbourhood.

The group, which compromises of 78 residents, have decided that enough is enough and they refuse to live in a dangerous environment for any longer.

Watling Street estate has been a worry for residents for many years, due to its past of heavy industrial use.

Residents believe that their properties have been built on unsafe land - land which has not been fully detoxified. This lack of detoxification is both against the law and seriously dangerous to inhabitants.

After years or protesting and arguing their case, experts eventually came to test the safety of the ground.

The results indicated that there was in fact a high presence of trichloroethylene (TCE), tetrachloroethylene (PCE) and other toxic solvents, which renders the land unsafe.

In addition, air toxicity levels in the 25 houses in the estate are far higher than they should be.

Instead of accepting this state any longer, the residents of the 25 houses have stood their ground and launched legal action against the local authority, City Link Development Company Ltd and Scott Wilson (Scotland) Ltd.

They are being represented by Collins Solicitors, hailed on their website as a "leading firm of solicitors specialising in Medical Negligence, Personal Injury and Accident claims".

Des Collins, senior partner of Collins Solicitors, said to STV Local: "All along we have warned that if the residents of this estate in Motherwell were not able to secure voluntary remediation of the site, legal action would follow."

Mr Collins agrees with the inhabitants of the estate - asserting that they have been living in a near danger zone.

"These properties are unfit for human habitation and, given the intransigence of those named today as defenders, the time has come for us to find an immediate solution to the ongoing health problems," he said.