By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Cheltenham residents say developers and the Borough Council “couldn’t care less” about the cracks which have appeared in the walls of their homes after construction began at North Place car park.
People living in Northfield Terrace have had to put up with loud noise and vibrations shaking their homes since ground works began for the 147-home Wavensmere Homes scheme at the car park at the end of February.
Emma Chetwynd Stapylton, one of the residents who first raised concerns about the works in March, said the piling has begun and they have “endured a week of vibrations shaking the street”.
She says residents feel it is like a “David and Goliath” battle as both the developers and Cheltenham Borough Council are telling residents to claim on their insurance for the damage to their properties.
“I now have cracks in every room apart from my spare room at the front of the house,” she said.
“The cracks in the hallway and dining room have a corresponding crack upstairs on my landing in the same place.
“I have spoken to Environmental Health who quite honestly couldn’t care less.” She said the council have told her everything being done is “legal” and she would have to claim on her house insurance for the damage.
The council have suggested she get a structural engineer to assess the house which she believes would cost a couple of thousands of pounds.
“If I claim on my insurance, then I must foot the bill for the excess and my premiums will go through the roof,” she said.
“We received a letter from Wavensmere telling us that they were going to be doing the piling and referred to a ‘previous’ letter sent on the 10 March.
“None of us received this first letter. Their construction director admitted on the phone that they had not communicated with us.
“I have just been to speak to the site manager who essentially couldn’t care less either.
“He queried my comments that my entire office was shaking due to the piling and when invited to come and see for himself (a five-minute walk) – he declined.
“He told me that the vibrations have not spiked the monitors that they have in place, so they did not have to build a slit trench between us and the machinery. Who sets the levels on these as reasonable for the surrounding houses to withstand?
“So essentially, they are building the housing development, making money in the process, and causing damage to 19th century properties around the site – that we have to pay to repair the damage.”
She also fears the next lot of pilling work may potentially cause damage to the Grade II listed buildings on St Margaret’s Terrace.
“I cannot tell you how stressful this is, and I feel rather like David in a Goliath situation,” she said.
“I will be putting a leaflet through all my neighbours’ doors to ask them to check their houses for cracks and perhaps we can get a group of us together. Both the Council and Wavensmere Homes could honestly not care less because they are protected by the law and tell me to claim on my insurance.
“They have shown scant disregard for any of the community around this development.”
Bernadette Reed, public and environmental health manager for Cheltenham Borough Council, said they continue to work closely with residents to address any issues regarding noise, vibration and dust from the Wavensmere Homes site at North Place in Cheltenham.
“The work required at the development will be noisy to some degree and for a time, disruption is to be expected,” she said.
“However we have reviewed the results from monitoring equipment installed on site and confirmed that appropriate steps are being taken that will ensure these effects are minimised as far as possible.
“We will continue to monitor this site throughout the project and will take appropriate action as necessary to try and ensure that the developers keep any disruption as minimal as possible”
Wavensmere Homes and Montane Partners said they sympathise with the concerns raised by nearby residents.
But they say all work is being carried out in line with the approved construction management plan and a noise mitigation scheme approved by the council.
Craig Gee, construction director of Wavensmere Homes, said: “We sympathise with the concerns raised by residents local to our Arkle Court development site in Cheltenham, regarding the ongoing enabling works carried out by our appointed specialist groundwork contractor.
“All construction activities are being conducted in accordance with the approved Construction Management Plan (Condition 9) and Noise Mitigation Scheme (Condition 5), both approved by Cheltenham Borough Council before site clearance began.
“These measures are designed to minimise disruption, whilst ensuring the project to deliver 147 much-needed new homes progresses safely and efficiently.”
“In response to residents’ feedback, additional measures beyond those required by the approved conditions have been implemented on-site to further reduce noise disturbances during the final stages of site clearance.
“This includes the use of different machinery to negate the use of louder ‘breaker’ type machinery.
“The development is being delivered sequentially from the eastern boundary with North Place, running anti-clockwise to improve the site frontage.
“The initial phase of any development typically involves the most intrusive work. Given that the removal of hardstanding elements is nearing completion, noise and vibration levels from the site will decrease significantly.”