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.
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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