The town of Livingston has silent streets, fly-tipped vacant sites and homes lying empty aside from overgrown gardens.
It's far from what was imagined in the 1960s, as out of the 240 original houses, just two dozen still stand.
The weather on the ghost estate is terrifying; sitting in a home surrounded by decaying and derelict buildings Kerry Mackintosh and her two children are scared of the high winds and rain.
They worry that the neighbouring buildings will collapse, reports Edinburgh Live.
But Kerry and the fellow homeowners on Deans South face much wrangling over their future.
Vulnerable elderly people, such as Joe Baxter and his wife Isabel who live along the empty street from Kerry, have been cut off from family.
Nothing but essential services are maintained, and the 16-year talks on a future for the area are barely moving.
Still, at least it’s quiet. Before the lockdown there was demolition which shook shelves off walls in their homes.
New social housing sits hard up against the older versions, but the building work plagued the Baxters, and Kerry, with power cuts and broken drains and sewage.
Kerry is luckier than many. She’s kept her job, working from home with her two kids.
But the ghost housing estate has felt even more isolated.
She said : “The thing that has kept me going has been my two kids. I’ve kept my job and I’ve been working from home. It was hard for the kids being stuck at home, but as a family we are strong.”
Kerry remains combative. The only contact she’s had, she says, is with Springfield Properties, who have promised a home for a home deal with the remaining owners.
It’s disputed by West Lothian Council who maintain a plan to issue enhanced buyout payments for the properties, with the threat of compulsory purchase order (CPO) in the other hand.
"I couldn’t buy a caravan with what they’ve offered me, never mind a three-bedroomed home for my family. Springfield is the only deal on the table," she said.
It was very different when Kerry, originally from Dundee, bought her home. There were great neighbours and a good community.
“This was a buzzing estate in 2002. Two years later I got a letter through the door telling me the place had been condemned. I was appalled,” remembered Kerry.
Things moved fast. Tenants were moved out after it was discovered the building material, Siporex, an aerated concrete used for the roof, was considered inadequate for heavy loads.
Then the demolition started.
Now the estate looks like TV images from the worst of public housing areas in cities like New York. Battered refuge-like homes occupying a stripped and scarred urban landscape that only hints of the community it used to be- pavements leading nowhere, empty metal frames that held street names, and the ubiquitous jungle gardens.
Among those properties still standing, many have been stripped of valuable copper.
Even paving slabs and fences have been taken. Vans arrive at night and load up.
Teenagers break into empty properties and attempt to break into occupied homes.
Some derelict houses have been turned into drug dens or miserable squats. Boy racers park up and car headlamps blaze through Kerry’s curtains.
These are problems that existed for the homeowners long before coronavirus ever existed.
A spokesman for West Lothian Council said: “Throughout the Covid pandemic the housing service has focused on essential services such as emergency repair work, gas servicing and homelessness. However we have continued our work on Deans South and the engagement process with owners in terms of the council’s offer has continued to remain open. Progress has been hampered by Covid, however it is our intention to progress through the committee process now that they are operational again.”
Local councillor Andrew Miller has rejected the threat of CPO on the homeowners.
He said: “Covid has stalled so many things. With regards to Deans South I remain supportive of the remaining home owners and believe the solution put forward by them should absolutely still be on the agenda.”
Kerry has a tough and pragmatic approach, which is evident from the blunt slogans she has painted on her garden fence.
However, it's like having a second job alongside her real one, as well as being a mother to two youngsters, which were until recently stuck at home for months.
She explained: "We have all worked really hard to support each other, especially those that haven’t been able to see their families . We all looked out for each other, that was the only support some vulnerable people had. We supported each other. We made sure we were all okay.”
Whilst owning your own home has been a mantra of adult life in this country over the last forty years, Deans South is a reminder of the downside.
