Cradley Heath landslide threatens homes.

Express & Star

A landslide in Cradley Heath has meant tons of soil blocking a road and residents see more falling as the weeks pass and nothing is done. The local MP and Councillor were on hand today to talk to residents.

Transcript

00:00Okay, this is Adam Smith of the Express to Start and we're in Hayden Drive

00:05No, sorry, Hayden Cross Drive in Old Hill and as you can see behind us

00:09There's been a landslip and we're with Janessa and Paul whose house is opposite

00:14Just waiting to find out about how you're feeling and what happened

00:20Well, to start with, we're really worried

00:24You know, every day it moves closer and closer to our house

00:28And as you can see at the minute, you know, it's coming onto the pavement now

00:31How long have we got before it hits our land, how long before it goes through our kitchen window

00:35You know, time will tell, we're kind of, you know, we don't know how long it's going to take

00:40It could be weeks, it could be months, but there's that worry every day waking up in the morning

00:44How far, how much land have we got left, you know

00:48And what has the developer said to you?

00:50Nothing

00:51We've been emailing, emailing, emailing, not a single response

00:54Yeah, Dunedin Home, so we've emailed lots and lots of emails

00:58No response from any of them at all, it's just...

01:00So we're just at a loss as to what to do, like we can't sell our house obviously

01:04We can't access our own drive, if there's an emergency we need a van pass

01:08We can't get to it, we've tried council, we've tried the MP, we've tried the developer

01:14Nobody can help, so we're just stuck for it

01:17So we've got Alex, manager of the MP for Hales, Owen

01:21Is this the first time you've seen this or what's your first thought?

01:24So I've spoken to some of the residents last year about the situation

01:29And it's absolutely terrifying to see how it's increasingly getting worse, getting closer and closer to Paul and Janessa's house here

01:36I completely understand how terrified you must be

01:39And it's shocking that the developer doesn't have a plan to rectify it

01:43And you've managed to get a lot of residents out today

01:45So I wanted to speak to all the residents in the area to hear their concerns

01:49To see how the situation is developing alongside the council

01:53So we can come up with a plan to force the developer to fix this problem

01:59This is an unadopted road, so the developer hasn't decided to sign up for all the protections

02:05Maybe if you've got a public highway, so that's probably one of the tricky things about it maybe?

02:10Absolutely, so fixing this is the developer's responsibility

02:15Because the council has not adopted the road as you say

02:18So I think normally, for a less serious situation, it would be up for the residents and the developer to come to a conclusion on fixing it

02:28But because it is so serious, because it is affecting everyone's lives here

02:31I'm asking the council to look at what legal avenues they can take to really put pressure on the developer to get this fixed as soon as possible

02:39Great stuff, thanks a lot

02:40Thank you

02:42I said to you, sorry

02:43So just before we get on to the council, Vicky, I'll put you on the spotted of over-the-counter

02:48So they've had several companies come out to inspect the site

02:53They've removed some soil, but then it just continued to get worse

02:57So no actual action has been taken

03:00The communication from the developer, I saw there was a letter in December that said they were going to come out and do something

03:05There was a December and then we had one last week, didn't we?

03:08Yeah, last week

03:10And when you've received those letters, have you seen people on the site doing anything afterwards?

03:14No

03:15Some people have a little look, but not a lot

03:18So it's a watchman

03:21Yeah, and they've stopped replying to your messages and basically are ignoring you

03:26Yeah, they've kept an email to them and sort of

03:30So there is no plan, as far as anyone in here is concerned, from the developer to do anything about this?

03:36Only in writing, so only a scanner would do it

03:39But we've heard this before

03:40It's all very generic things, like anyone could agree with

03:44Did you see the letter, Ed?

03:45Yeah, the one last week could have been written, like, you could just put it in Criblock Wall

03:49It was all worthy of the sign until you come to the last paragraph

03:54Yeah, I think the one last week was more about, they basically said don't park your cars near the landslip

04:00And I think that's more of a point around

04:02Like if it fell on our car, we couldn't really go to them and claim it

04:06Yeah, but this is the thing, they've turned around and said don't

04:08When it first came down, they said don't park on your drive

04:10And I said to them, okay, well, because I'm having to park on the road, I have to get in touch with my insurance and tell them

04:16I said, so are you going to cover any costs that I'm going to be incurring because I can't park on my drive?

04:20And they said, oh no, because we've advised you not to park on the drive

04:26And then I said, okay, well, if I'm going to be parked on the road

04:29No, I said, okay, well, I'll just park on the drive, sorry

04:32And then if your land comes down and it hits my car, can I forward you to my insurance?

04:37And they said, oh no, because we've advised you not to park on the drive

04:39So they've really tried to cover themselves

04:41Oh, the insurance

04:42Yeah

04:46Yeah, but that drain's not right

04:52Even the site agent comes down to do it, that's not right

04:57No, there's some reason

04:59It's all over here, come and stand here

05:02Sorry

05:03There's floods everywhere

05:05So all the water, all the water comes out here

05:08Yeah

05:09This is where all the water comes out here

05:11Because it floods it in, I'd say

05:13It comes out here, it comes down the drain, it's bringing in all the silt and all the sand and everything

05:16Yeah

05:17It's only a matter of time before these drains get blocked

05:20That's where it was going on to me to go, I think

05:23And it wasn't going down because it was all blocked

05:25And you can see it all in there now, can't you?

05:27Yeah

05:28Blocking the drain

05:29Yeah

05:30Yeah, it's all good

05:31Yeah

05:33No, they've got a lot to answer for

05:35Yeah

05:36All the concrete stanchions, they're all cracking and breaking so the next lot's going to come down

05:40Yeah

05:41Yeah

05:43And this is exactly what it was like, so it was exactly this is what's happening again here

05:48All the bottom going, the top bit, and then it was just dropping one go

05:53I mean, it seems like it'll be a bigger job the longer it's left to repair

05:58Yeah

06:00It'll be more slipping across, it'll be more expensive

06:02It'll just keep moving down and down and down and then everyone will become affected

06:19You know, we've tried the council, we've tried you guys, we've tried writing to them, we've tried reviews, we've tried lawyers

06:24I don't know what else to do, we can't sell the house

06:27No

06:28Well, when Gary, when Gary

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