Scars remain, but a year on Pennan is back in business

A YEAR after the "miracle" of Pennan, the tracks left by the devastating landslides which came perilously close to bringing disaster to the village remain as ugly scars on the spectacular cliffs looming over the picture postcard community.

In the Buchan village itself, where the majority of homes have been freshly whitewashed for the summer season, the mud-spattered walls of a handful of cottages have yet to be cleaned.

And at the western edge of Pennan, the village hall, badly damaged when the torrent of mud and water swept down from the cliffs in ten separate landslips, lies abandoned and surrounded by fencing.

It is a constant reminder to the people of the village, made famous 25 years ago in Bill Forsyth's film Local Hero, of how close they came to catastrophe on 6 August last year when a tide of waterlogged soil threatened to engulf their community.

Had it happened 24 hours earlier, the hall would have been packed with 60 people and there is no telling what their fate would have been.

Twelve months on, however, Pennan has slowly, but surely, got back on its feet. Day-trippers and holidaymakers seeking the peace and tranquility of the "jewel" in Aberdeenshire's tourism crown have returned – despite the fact that the village's pub, the Pennan Inn, once the hub of the village's social life, remains neglected and unsold since the owners emigrated to Canada last year.

The last of the residents to be affected by the mudslides, Rod MacDonald, a helicopter pilot, finally got back into his holiday cottage two weeks ago.

One new family has set up home in the village and one of the permanent residents is having an extension built on his home – all signs of a community with faith in its future.

But, at the back of many people's minds, is the fear that it could happen again.

And, on the anniversary, anxious villagers are still waiting for work to begin on the £600,000 scheme recommended by specialist engineers to make the cliffs safe.

Mr MacDonald's home, in which he normally spends half the year, was one of the most badly damaged.

He said: "The mud went right into the kitchen and the bathroom at the back. The roof had to be taken off and a new kitchen and bathroom put in.

"Everybody has pulled together and there is no doubt it has helped bring the village together."

But he quickly adds: "The only downside is that we are still waiting to hear about the funding for the structural work to make sure it doesn't happen again.

"We need secure netting put up and some of the rocks removed. I think it is highly likely it (the landslides] will happen again – but when?

"We do really need a ditch on the top fields to drain away most of the water so it doesn't drain into the village.

"That was the recommendation from the engineers and that is what we are waiting for."

His concerns are shared by Brenda Kutchinsky, whose cliff-top home overlooks the village.

"Everyone is worried about the cliff," she says. "We have had all this rain this summer and you could see the water pouring down the hill.

"It could be 200 or 300 years before it happens again. But, on the other hand, it could be two or three years.

"Nothing has been done. We would certainly have hoped that the work to make the cliff safe would have started by now."

But Mrs Kutchinsky stresses that one of the lasting legacies of the landslides has been the restoration of a sense of unity in a village once divided by petty squabbles.

"Those landslides made the earth move in more ways than one," she says. "Strangely enough they brought the village together."

There is also a pressing need, she adds, to get work started on renovating the village hall. The hall, built by public subscription after the First World War, was used as a theatre, cinema and community centre until the 1950s and was also a popular venue for wedding parties and other village celebrations.

With the Pennan Inn still closed, there is no social focal point for the village. And the visitors who still arrive to see the legendary red telephone box from Forsyth's film have nowhere to go for a pint or even a cup of tea or coffee.

However, Sue Johnson who runs Pennan's only bed-and-breakfast accommodation insists: "The Pennan Inn may be closed, but that doesn't mean we are dying a death here. We still get lots of visitors.

"It has been a little bit quieter this year. But that's not just happening in Pennan – it's happening everywhere with the credit crunch."

Villagers still waiting for funding decision

A YEAR has passed since the mudslide, but still no decision has been taken on the funding required to protect the village from a similar problem.

Talks have been going on between Aberdeenshire Council and the Scottish Government for several months, but a final agreement has yet to be reached. A spokesman for Aberdeenshire Council said: "Discussions about the long-term protection measures are still ongoing."

He added: "We hope to be able to appoint a contractor and approve the cost of the work to the village hall at a meeting of the Banff and Buchan area committee later this month and subsequently to begin work on the hall around the beginning of September."

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Work to stabilise the slope took place last year, as did remedial work to the village. The longer-term proposal is still a matter of discussion between Aberdeenshire Council and the Scottish Government."