RESIDENTS in Scotland's smallest council estate are pleading to have
their homes demolished.
The scheme is marooned in acres of raspberry fields and miles from the
nearest town.
The houses, built for workers at a long abandoned mill, have no shop,
telephone box, post box, bus service, school, playpark, or pub.
Tenants claim they are ''forgotten people'' in the estate, which is
surrounded by acres of farmland in picturesque Perthshire countryside.
The Old Mill Road scheme is two miles outside Blairgowrie and contains
a tenement block of 12 flats, of which only three are occupied, and six
semi-detached properties.
Mr Graeme Low, 28, a father-of-five, said: ''I have been stuck here
for six years. It's in the middle of nowhere. I don't have a car and in
the bad weather it's hopeless.''
Unemployed Mr Low added: ''There's nowhere for the kids to play. The
flat is totally inadequate.
''There is no central heating. Even though there is double glazing the
draughts still come in and my youngest child Christopher has to go to
hospital because of his asthma.''
Another resident of the block, Mr Lawrence Edgar, 30, complained:
''We're marooned. We have to go by taxi everywhere and that costs us #20
a week, which we can't afford.''
Susan Chalmers, 28, lives in her three-bedroomed flat with her four
children and boyfriend. She said: ''They should knock all this down and
build it closer to the town.
''This scheme is a dump and the houses are freezing. We have just been
forgotten about. I have been here two years and am desperate to get
out.''
Mr Ron Ashton, depute director of housing at Perth and Kinross
District Council, said: ''The difficulty with the area is the isolation.
We are in partnership with Scottish Homes to see how we can regenerate
the scheme.''
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