Pinders Heath Residents Association

WAKEFIELD EAST (WARD 16) COMMUNITY FORUM

MEETING: Monday 25 February 2019

10-30 TO 12-00 AT WAKEFIELD ONE OFFICES, WAKEFIELD.

AGENDA Minutes

Wakefield Community Forum

Wakefield One, 10:30 to 12:00 Noon

25 February 2019

1. In Attendance

Cllr D Byford (Chair)

Cllr O Rowley - Wakefield East (Ward 16)

Cllr S Heptinstall -Wakefield East (Ward 16)

Cllr R Lund - Wakefield East (Ward 16)

Ms Leda Prest ( Bishopgarth residents)

Matt Wilson ( Pinders Heath residents)

I Garratt Team Leader Environment and Enforcement

APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Apologies Received From Mr D Farraday Technical Director Redrow Homes.

2. INTRODUCTIONS

Cllr Byford chaired part of the meeting due to another engagement, and he set out the purpose of the meeting . Cllr Heptinstall took the Chair mid-way through the meeting.

Cllr Byford outlined concerns that the issues were significantly affecting residents and it was not a situation of their making . Expressed Disappointment that Redrow could not attend on this occasion but requested Redrow should attend the next meeting at Wakefield One.

3. BISHOPGARTH, WESTFIELD ROAD, COLLEGE GROVE

Cllr Rowley advised dust was a major problem in summer 2018 and although investigated , EHO measures were not effective. Residents and Councillors complained but nothing was done about it.

Leda Prest outlined the problems with the site since last year to current time .

There was no sign displayed with a Redrow contact number or nominated person to report complaints and concerns to.

[IG will follow up with Redrow]

Dust was a major problem- residents couldn’t open windows. Residents were suffering from breathing difficulties and one resident had a new born baby which required medical attention.

Dust during the demolition was not adequately suppressed on the site. Dust from the crusher and the stockpile was significant. Cllr Heptinstall agreed with this. Residents had to continually complain to get things done. Eventually the stockpile height was reduced, and a sprinkler hose was erected along the boundary fence, however, it was not routinely used unless the residents came out and were seen taking photographs of the site which prompted the developer to act.

The EHO sent an officer to monitor the site on a weekly basis. Residents could overhear the conversations on site. The point was made that from a residents a point of view the meetings appeared to be too informal and friendly, on first name terms, and were not seen to be on an impartial and professional basis when dealing with the developer.

[IG will raise this with service managers]

The EHO monitoring with sticky boards did not result in any action and it did not resolve the problem for the residents. The residents have been told that the site is being monitored /controlled in accordance with the London Regulations 2012 but they Residents are not convinced that dust is being adequately controlled. They are concerned that when the dry weather returns in 2019 the dust issues will resume from the site. They request protection now, not later when it is too late.

[IG will raise dust measures awareness with Redrow and other major developers in the district]

Leda All the residents are asking is to be given protection from the impacts of working by the Council so that they can get on with their lives. The Bats had more protection than the residents; the demolition construction workers had more H&S protection on site than the local residents who had to live there all the time and suffer the effects of dust.

Cllr Heptinstall said there was insufficient water to suppress the dust around the crushing operations .A discussion took place about the crushing operations and generally the lack of control on location of the crusher, stockpile location and stockpile heights . Cllr Heptinsatll raised the issue of construction management schemes and emphasised the need for close attention to detail in applications and imposing conditions to ensure residents were protected.

[IG will raise this issue with Service Managers on content and consistency of CMS]

Cllr Rowley concurred that dust was a major issue which she had personally witnessed and felt the dust board monitoring was ineffective and did not resolve the problem. Cllr Rowley shared concerns that the residents need more protection.

Leda Explained that the residents complained about the demolition of the property and the bat roost out of hours. No-one was informed of the demolition work being undertaken in the evening. The residents complained to the Council and the Police to get it resolved . IG confirmed the requirements of the scheme under the condition were eventually satisfied and the necessary consent had been issued.

Leda explained that the HGV deliveries/low loaders use Westfield Road with 2 entrances, and one entrance on College Grove. The Developer said they would not be using Westfield Road which is near the school and is a potential traffic risk. IG explained the approved Construction Management Scheme indicates traffic routeing from Leeds Road and HGV traffic are permitted to use Westfield Lane. The Councils Highways DC officers had considered the scheme and not raised any objections.

Leda explained that recently on a Sunday (27 January 2019) working with heavy plant took place to install a sewer connection on Westfield Road. The working also included working within part of the site. The residents were disturbed Saturday and Sunday and the work was not finished and overran until Monday. The Council had given them permission to do the works but no-one was notified of the works beforehand .

[IG to address this with highways RASW team]

Leda explained that residents had complained about the hours of working on site. They are not strictly being adhered to all of the time. There are some early starts, and deliveries, and late finishes after the times allowed. The problem is intermittent .It has been reported but nothing has been done.

[IG will raise this with Planning Enforcment and with Redrow]

4.CITY FIELDS,WAKEFIELD.

Mr Wilson said that last summer residents complained about the dust from the site. No-one could open their windows. Dust is damaging property . His concern was about the inhalation of dust, particularly silica particulates and impact on health. Cllr Heptinstall explained about dust and health risk from his own qualified position in the mining industry.

Councillor Rowley explained that sticky board monitoring was undertaken. The EHO had indicated the level of dust was in exceedance of what was acceptable but nothing further was done about it.

Mr Wilson explained the excavation of a cliff was undertaken and expressed surprise how this could have happened in the first place. This has caused the public footpath to be closed since November and still no progress getting it resolved . The excavation of the cliff was due to the requirement for construction of a site access road beneath it which was not in the approved position. This is still the case, and yet the development was not stopped. Redrow were allowed to carry on. Mr Wilson asked how all of this was not picked up by the planning enforcement officer. IG explained limited resource -one planning enforcement officer covering Wakefield. It is impracticable for Enforcement to routinely inspect all construction sites for compliance with plans.

[IG to check and advise on the siting of the access road adjacent to the cliff]

Cllr Heptinstall raised the issue of stability of the cliff face . He was concerned he had previously seen evidence of a blue water supply pipe and concerned this may risk stability of the site. IG relayed information received from Redrow to submit the risk assessment management scheme to the HSE within the next week and proceed to build the wall mid-March onwards.

[IG to check this with Redrow and update at next meeting]

Mr Wilson said the objections to the retrospective application for the supporting wall to the cliff had not been considered. The retrospective application was simply approved to allow development to continue. To the residents it appears that the planning department is pro-development and too close to Redrow. IG advised that planning enforcement is impartial.

[IG to check and report back on this]

The removal of the hedge has been reported to planning enforcement it particularly relates to the hedgerow on the corner near the cliff. The hedgerow was meant to be retained. IG said planning enforcement are investigating this as he was aware of 2 other sections of works along the hedgerow Planning Enforcement will contact Redrow for a meeting to discuss work done and compliance.

[IG to report back on this]

Cllr Rowley expressed concern that Redrow sites in Wakefield appeared to create problems for local residents, Councillors, and officer time. There was need to discuss with Redrow these concerns, and , and Members agreed Redrow should be invited to discus what steps should be taken to resolve the current site issues and improve conditions for local residents.

{ IG to report this to Corporate Director and progress].

Cllr Heptinsatll asked for key action points going forward, and to be brought back to the next meeting; ( these have been summarised below) [IG will discuss these issues with Service Director and Service Manager]

Summary

Dialogue with

Action points for improvements

1. Developer contact details to be displayed on sites.

developer

2.Staff Code of conduct

Service managers

3.Dust from construction sites reminders

developers

4. Content of construction management schemes

Service managers

5. Planning conditions content

Service managers

6.Public Information on street works

Highways authority RASWA

7. Hours of working at the Bishopgarth site.

Developer

8. Check on siting of access road City Fields

Developer

9 check progress with retaining wall

Developer

10. Objections considered in planning report

Planning Services records

11.check any exposed water supplies on cliff side

Developer

12 removal of hedgerows. check compliance

Developer

13 internal discussion with developer

Developer

5. ANY OTHER BUSINESS- No further issues were raised

6. DONM: 8 April 2019 at Wakefield One, Wakefield 10 am – 12:00 Noon

Notes taken by I Garratt

Date issued 1.3. 2019

Following some discussion about the current PHRA constitution I have been supplied a printed version By Jane Holmes. Thanks Jane for digging it out. But because I have no OCR capability on my current scanner i have had to copy it and post it on the photographs page of this site. Sorry if the quality of the image makes it hard to read.

following a meeting with Fin Tait at Wakefield One, Burton St, I received the following email.

‘

“Good Afternoon Chris,

Following on from this morning I have spoken with Jane Hunt and I am unable to disclose the figure that has been negotiated for the sale of land as it is commercially confidential.

As discussed, the POS consultation period is the opportunity for any members of the public to raise their concerns or objections to any proposals. Therefore should you wish to raise an objection please can you send something in writing to either myself on the below email or to Jane Hunt at [email protected] , or alternatively at Wakefield One Reception. The deadline to receive objections for this particular case is the 14th September.

Kind Regards,

Fin

I replied

“Dear Fin,

Thank you for prompt follow up on this mornings meeting. As I can sure you will have guessed this was not the answer I was hoping for. One of the main reasons for any possible objections our membership might have to the sale of communal land on the estate would be the price of that land ie sold too cheaply, and hopes that this would be prohibitive enough to discourage other home owners from simply acquiring land to suit their own purposes. This secrecy will only lead to the residents being more insensed than is nessessary with accusations lack of transparency at local government level and that it is some sort of “fixed” deal and thus cause more of an outcry than would otherwise be the case. I will now be including our ward councillors in on this discussion in order to seek clarification on this matter. After all the commercial sensitivity of this financial settlement is hardly on the of scale of a new shopping centre is it. It is most important that our members feel that justice is served and that such activity as breaking of planning regulations and stealing communal land can not be sanctioned let alone rewarded. Surely the money raised by this sale will appear in the public audit of the councils accounts so why pretend it is a closely guarded secret now. Also, your email to me seems to imply that the land has been sold to the owner of 9 Barleycorn Close. Like the parcel of land adjacent to Clarke Hall Farm, also recently sold with no notification to the public, we had no consultation on the matter. Perhaps the residents association would have welcomed the chance to buy the land ourselves, given the opportunity. I look forward hearing your response.

Chris Harrison, Pinders Heath Residents Association”

The Police are carrying out a speed awareness operation taking place on Thursday 13th September at 10.30 am on the Eastern Relief Road  and would like residents to join them.  If you would like to attend the meeting will take place at the end of Park Lodge Lane where the Eastern Relief Road meets the Wash Lands Area.  Councillors from Ward 16 have been invited.  If excessive speeding is witnessed then this will be fed back to Highways Department to help improve signage along this new road.  Drivers who are speeding will be advised of their speed via a "Smiley Sid".

We have a committee meeting coming up soon. Does any resident want to have a particular issue on our agenda? If so let us know either here or at the web site pindersheathresidentsassociation.webs.com

Or you could email [email protected]

Don’t forget the PHRA meeting on Monday 3rd September at 7:30pm Trinity Methodist Church meeting room. Everyone welcome. We would love to see you there.

Our Facebook site is going from strength to strength and, asd write, now has 62 members. Please encourage your friends and neighbours to join. This is a great way to find out wahat is happening to our community with very little effort on your part. we are currently involved several campaigns. The  Parking on Aberford Road, The loss of access through the copse at the top of the estate, the horredous dust cuased by the City Fields Developers and the issue of lonelyness of the estate, which we are addressing in a couple of ways through a luch club once a month on the first Monday of the month over at the St Swithuns community centre and through the "talking bench' at the top of the estate. Why not mention this to your neighbours or come up to the bench during the week and see if there is someone there to chat to. the weather is currently perfect to do this.

A couple of us went to Mary Creagh’s meeting at Trinity Methodists church (Saturday 10:00-11:30) to discuss residents in the local area’s concerns over a cuppa and biscuits. There were about 25-30 people there and Mary and Olivia Rowley and Ros Lund were there to respond to their concerns with a action plan where possible. We of course brought up the parking on Aberford Road and the terrible dust caused by the developers was also mentioned at one point.

We had a meeting with Paul from street scene to discuss some environmental issues on the estate. We talked about the bunding,now to be cut 2-3 times a year. Getting the benches a little more securely “chocked” in the parched ground. We are buying some more glorious Tete a Tete’s and Paul’s crew will plant them for us. We walked down ‘Pinders path’ and looked at some trees that needed attention and finally on the the very litter strewn and overgrown gunnels between Pinders Heath and Easrmoor. Paul promised to get the weeds strimmed and a litter pick sorted. All in all a very productive meeting. Thursday 9:00 am.

You can use the following number to talk to the council about Car Parking issues.

01924 306090

or email: [email protected]

This is the space where we will display the dates of meetings for the year ahead.