RESIDENTS of the Drake Gardens housing estate in Tavistock met the MP for West Devon and Torridge Geoffrey Cox recently, as he was shown the preliminary works taking place on the site as a result of a five year campaign to safeguard the homes.

Mr Cox was escorted around the site by Peter Arnold of Hyder, the supervising engineers, and met and spoke to local residents.

The MP has been working alongside West Devon Borough Council to bring the homes at Drake Gardens to a restored and marketable condition.

The homes were built above the old Crelake mine and works have been taking place to stabilise the area.

In 2005, the council enlisted the help and support of the MP to persuade English Partnerships to find the money for a full investigation into the effects of old lead mine workings.

English Partnerships was able to finance the £1-million remedial works up to a limit of 50%, and the full sum could only be provided if a little known parliamentary procedure known as a 'derelict land clearance order' (DLCO) was presented to the House of Commons.

At the time there had been only two previous orders of this kind.

The MP supported the DLCO through Parliament and the full works have therefore been able to go ahead.

Mr Cox said: 'I was delighted to have the opportunity to meet Hyder engineers, who are investigating the precise underground layout of the mine so as to identify the manner in which huge quantities of grout will be pumped into the tunnels to make the land upon which these houses sit, safe and secure.

'It is particularly pleasing after all these years of campaigning to see the beginning of their fulfilment.