Empty flats 'spruced up for Royal'

Published on Thursday 22 June 2006 02:21

A SCOTS council spent £2,000 on refurbishing run-down homes for a Royal visit before boarding their windows back up just minutes after Princess Anne left.

Residents in Alloa's deprived Mar Policies area were delighted when Clackmannanshire Council installed new windows in empty houses and even put in curtains.

Council street cleaners also arrived to spruce up the estate before Princess Anne was due to arrive at a community centre. But locals were shocked when workers arrived to board up the windows again. Vicky Brown, a 20-year-old resident, said the "gleaming new" windows were uncovered for only 25 minutes while the Princess Royal looked around.

"For the first time in years, the street looked fantastic," she said. "Just five minutes after the princess left, workers came to board the windows up again."

Pensioner Edward Meldrum, 67, who lives in the Mar Policies, said: "We were delighted because the street had never looked so clean. But now it's right back to the way it was. A lot of people are very angry. The council didn't want Princess Anne to see the place the way it was, but they clearly feel it is good enough for the people who live here."

A council spokeswoman said around 2,000 was spent on six flats in the build-up to last week's visit. She added: "Princess Anne is high-profile and we would want to leave her with a good opinion of Clackmannanshire.

"The plan is to let the flats, but because they are currently lying empty they have been boarded up since the princess's visit as a precautionary measure against vandalism. The windows were always due to be installed but the work was probably brought forward for the Royal visit."