An abandoned housing estate dubbed 'Scotland's Chernobyl' is set to be demolished after a a long and bitter feud between private landlords and Inverclyde Council, with the local authority confirming officers had been instructed to prepare for compulsory purchase.
The derelict Clune Park estate in Port Glasgow is a stark contrast to the once thriving housing scheme which was filled with a community of shipyard workers in the 1920s.
Less than 10 per cent of residents are now believed to be living in the 430-flat estate after it was abandoned. The site was once the cheapest place to buy property in Britain after one flat sold for just £7,000 at auction.
Vandals and arsonists have frequently targeted the scheme over the years, with some flats extensively damaged by fire, while a church and primary school on the estate are also boarded up and abandoned.
Urban explorer Kyle Urbex toured the eerie housing estate last year and told the Daily Record he was shocked to see people still living there.
He said: "One of the things that struck me the most was that the majority of the flat blocks are abandoned and derelict but some people are still living there. Some flats still had lots of possessions in them, like someone had gone out for the day and never came back.
"Outside of the flats, it is surprising to see people still going about their normal lives and going into houses next to the estate when 80 per cent of it is derelict. It is sad in a way to see what would have once been a thriving community, where everyone knew each other, all falling into itself in a derelict state."
As reported in the Scottish Daily Express, plans to demolish the housing estate have been ongoing for over a decade, with private landlords refusing to sell to Inverclyde Council.
But a new development in January saw the local authority confirm it would pursue compulsory purchase orders as part of a two-phased plan to create between 100 and 120 new homes. It is hoped the first phase will be completed by 2027.
Council leader Stephen McCabe told the Greenock Telegraph: "We've acquired over 50 per cent of the properties and there's ongoing attempts to acquire individual flats. There's a number of properties that have essentially fallen to the Crown and we have to go through a process for that too.
"There are still a couple of large landlords and there have been ongoing discussions with one of them which haven't come to a successful conclusion. Undoubtedly we will need to go down the compulsory purchase route, we're preparing for that. The council has given authority to officers to start that process."
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