Halloween house spooks council after health and safety complaint

Paula Dewar said her home attracts visitors to see the many decorations

If there's something strange in the neighbourhood, who you gonna call?

For someone in North Lanarkshire it was the local council - after a health and safety complaint was made about Halloween decorations in Cumbernauld.

Paula Dewar and her family have, for years, covered their home and outside street with hordes of ghouls, ghosts and goblins.

But just 24 hours before the big day, Ms Dewar received a letter from North Lanarkshire Council asking for the street decorations to be removed due to a "risk to public safety".

The spooky tunnel has been deemed a health and safety risk

Ms Dewar has decorated the front of the house since her four children - now all in their teens and 20s - were young.

In recent years they have expanded from the house to the neighbouring path, where they created a spooky tunnel for residents to walk through.

The family set up donation buckets so visitors can chip in and donate to a good cause each year.

North Lanarkshire Council has now told her the tunnel - which includes carved pumpkins, models of witches and skeletons and spooky artwork - is a "potential hazard" because it has plastic pipes and wooden rails.

It told BBC Scotland it did not want to spoil any Halloween fun, but public safety needed to be paramount.

The council said people could be injured walking along the path if the tunnel collapsed

The letter said consent from the road authority should have been sought - but added that this would have been refused anyway "due to the associated safety risk."

It said any claims for damages caused by injuries suffered walking along the footpath would be passed to Ms Dewar.

The council also raised concerns that the structure itself could collapse.

Ms Dewar told BBC Scotland News: "When I received the letter I was truly shocked - I know it sounds naïve but I never gave planning permission a thought.

"The structure is very secure and I'm disappointed someone would report it to the council, as it's only up for three or four weeks at most.

"There are plenty of other paths people can walk along here, it's not just the one that goes past my house."

The many decorations are on display for a few weeks

However, Ms Dewar's Halloween night plans have not been written off yet.

She added: "The structure hasn't budged in the weeks it has been up and I don't have the manpower until Saturday to start removing it all.

"It's usually so popular each year - we've had people come from out of the area to look at it, we've had groups of disabled people come in a minibus to see it.

"Last year we raised just short of £500 for charity - we're doing it for the Pet Pantry Cumbernauld this year and we'll hopefully get a good response."

North Lanarkshire Council said it was illegal to place anything across a public path without permission under the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.

A spokesperson added: "The last thing we want to do is spoil anyone's Halloween fun but safety is paramount.

"We want to make sure children are trick or treating in public areas without risk to their safety.

"We would be happy to work with her next year to work on more suitable arrangements for all children to enjoy the display safely."