A village in Blanefield, East Stirlingshire, has been given help from the UK Government to pay £600,000 in contaminated land clean-up costs.
The residents were given the enormous bill after an inspection by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) discovered traces of lead and arsenic on the land of 13 households.
Ministers are providing £255,000 to help with the cost of removing the contamination. They have also urged the Scottish Government to put up a similar amount of cash to allow work to get under way. Resident Martin McGougan said the money, which will be given to the Scottish Government but ring-fenced solely for use in the village, was a "massive step forward" in the fight to have the costs reduced.
The land was believed to have been contaminated by chemicals from a Victorian print-works over a century ago, however, in the absence of factory owners, the huge bill now falls with the home-owners. Problems have been exacerbated by a landfill tax that adds significantly to the overall clean-up costs, and residents had called on the Treasury to waive this part of the bill.
However, officials have instead announced a one-off payment and called on the Scottish Government to match the funding. Stirling Council has already offered £125,000 towards the costs.
A Scottish Government spokesman said, "Landfill tax and the decision to exempt disposals of contaminated material is currently a matter for Westminster, which could simply exempt the residents of Blanefield altogether. The Treasury is expected to receive £300,000 from the residents of Blanefield and is simply giving them some - but not all - of that money back.
"The Scottish Government has worked with the residents of Blanefield and local MSP Bruce Crawford on this issue and we will continue to look at how the Scottish Government can assist in resolving the issue for Blanefield community."
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