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Rare Edinburgh footage shows families ripped from their homes by 1972 Newcraighall Evictions

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
AuthorLee Dalgetty
Published date20 June 2022
Publication titleEdinburghLive (Scotland)
The former mining village of Newcraighall was cleared in 1972, with residents receiving formal notices of eviction after many years of doubt

Before long, the BBC programme Current Account ran an expose detailing the clearance practices being enacted in both Edinburgh and Glasgow - speaking with local residents and councillors who were being affected by the plans.

Those living in homes set for demolition weren't necessarily against the plans, but more so the way they were being treated - how they had been told, and why exactly it was happening.

READ MORE -The calamitous Edinburgh demolition fail that left residents barred from their homes

We first see the Edinburgh suburb as journalist Raeburn Mackie tells us: "In the south Edinburgh village of Newcraighall these houses should have been pulled down by last week, that was D-day on their demolition orders - but the people are sitting tight and fighting, not against the demolition but the whys and the wherefores of the way they've been treated."

The village residents had been aware of the dwindling state of the area for some time, with several empty homes and some having failed to find new owners. The official notice came in July of 1972, with an official letter demanding that locals state their interest in the premises - and failure to do so resulting in a fine.

One elderly resident is shown on screen as she tells of the moment she received the letter. She says: "When I got the letters in, I had to sit in a chair and take a drink of water before I opened because I had an idea of what it was.

"Just turned my stomach upside down. It's terrible, and then the nerves would start.

"I couldn't go through if any more of those letters come, just a nuisance wasting money on all those letters."

Edinburgh Corporation Council, as it was known at the time, admitted that the letters...

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