WE’RE ALL SHOOK UP
Residents’ fury as thundering lorries ‘shake homes to their foundations’ en route to new homes development
LORRIES using Grimsby’s Willows Estate to access the new Macaulay Lane development are “shaking homes to their foundations”.
Up to 40 heavy lorries go through the Willows from 7am each day to access the Macaulay Park complex, where more than 100 new homes are being built.
The groundwork has meant tonnes of soil were removed in order to insert a thick layer of stone before being recapped with soil. Willows resident Keith Watkin said he is concerned about road safety through his estate as well as the noise disruption caused by the lorries.
When the former Millennium tip site was capped over 10 years ago with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of soil, lorries used a designated route along Boulevard Avenue and on to the A180, avoiding the residential area.
Keith said: “It is horrendous living next to the road. Homes get shaken to their foundations. “There are more heavy lorries coming on the Willows to the Macaulay Park site. Also we seem to be having more HGV training lorries coming on again. We also have the pupils back at school maybe it is time to do a safety impact study before someone gets hurt.
“The junction from Great Coates Road on to Larmour Road is not designed for this volume of traffic and highways officers acknowledge that but nothing gets done.” The measure has also angered allotment holders at the neighbouring Macaulay allotment site where around 150 plot holders fear their site will get flooded due to a blocked dyke.
Health and safety officer for the allotment, Glyn Atkinson said: “They are having to redo the whole membrane and put in a new layer, but the mounds have reached up to 14ft high. The lorries are continually moving to and from the site. There is a huge amount of stone being put in place.
“We are worried about flooding coming across from there on to our site. The new dyke that was built is already blocked and the water isn’t going anywhere. If we get much more rainfall which we are expecting it will have nowhere else to go but on to our site.” Gleeson Homes has started the second phase of the £90 million housing scheme and plans to open up the access to Macaulay Street for pedestrians only, once the development is complete. Around 100 homes have already been completed.
A spokeswoman for Gleeson Homes said her firm is building 224 homes at Macaulay Park providing many to first time buyers with prices from £126,995. Groundworks have started on Phase Two earlier this month with an appointed contractor. That involves raising ground levels to meet the approved plans. The result has been more lorry journeys and contractors have been told of the agreed route.
“We will discuss this with our hauliers and suppliers to minimise further disruption to local residents. and would request any issues are reported to the site team for us to deal with,” the spokeswoman said.