Residents at a Motherwell tower block are set to be without a fully functioning laundry service for months.
In June 2024, there was a fire within the electrical cupboard at Doonside Tower’s laundry room and a full programme of repairs has still not been completed.
During November, North Lanarkshire Council set out that the aim was for all remedial works to be complete by no later than just before the start of the Christmas holiday period.
The work was to include the installation of a new Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN) supply from a substation that is located behind the tower.
However, it then emerged that the substation itself would have to be replaced by Scottish Power.
The timescale to purchase specialist substation equipment to complete the replacement work is 12 weeks and the council do not expect the issue to be resolved until May at the earliest.
Motherwell South East and Ravenscraig councillor Nathan Wilson has been pursuing the matter with the local authority and he has also now written to Scottish Power directly to express concerns.
Until the full programme of repairs is complete, the council has now put in place a limited service for tenants as the laundry room has been re-opened with one washer and one drier back online.
Councillor Wilson said: “It is welcome that the laundry room at Doonside Tower is now partially operational again and after a seven month period when it was not available at all.
“Nonetheless, the overall situation whereby tenants will be without a fully functioning laundry service for almost one year is unacceptable.
“Given it was only latterly established that the rear substation at the tower needs to be replaced, there are questions to be answered about why this was not found out sooner and only when it seemed the laundry service would be reinstated in full before Christmas.
“Alongside my communications with the council, I have now made representation direct to Scottish Power and stressed the importance of safety completing the outstanding work at the earliest possible opportunity.
“Any further significant delays to the timetable for successfully concluding the repairs programme would be hugely disappointing and frustrating.”
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