Second wall collapse adds to safety fears
RESIDENTS SAY IT’S ‘ONLY A MATTER OF TIME’ BEFORE SOMEONE IS HURT
A SNEINTON woman fears it is “only a matter of time” until someone is injured by a large, unstable wall running past dozens of homes.
Less than two weeks after a dramatic landslide which led to the collapse of a 70ft wall, another section has fallen.
Emergency services evacuated five families from four properties in Spalding Road and Windmill Lane, Sneinton, on February 3 after rubble and bricks fell into gardens.
Nottinghamshire Police said noone was injured but some homes were left severely damaged.
Windmill Lane is the road overlooking Spalding Road in Sneinton.
A section of the wall that runs along the back of the Windmill Lane properties fell just after 3.30am on Monday, around a year on from the collapse of a similar section.
Pictures and video footage from resident Tanya-rue Ball show a dangerous drop has been revealed from the collapse.
Ms Ball, 25, has lived on Windmill Lane for just over a year and feels not enough is being done to protect residents.
She explained that the wall at the back of her home runs across more than 30 properties, from Devon Street connecting to the public stairway where the landslide occurred a few weeks ago.
She said: “It is a passageway behind the gardens which allows people to take the bins through and mainly to stop anyone falling over the edge.
“A year ago almost to the week, the wall partially fell during Storm Dennis across around six houses, exposing some of the drop.
“Luckily it seems the majority has fallen towards Windmill Lane and into our gardens and not over the edge to Spalding Road.”
Ms Ball said concerns were raised at the time of the first incident but, due to the pandemic, it was more difficult to sort.
She said metal fencing was used as a safety measure across the gardens, and residents were invited to leave their bins at the front of their homes instead.
But Ms Ball feels more measures should be taken by Nottingham City Council to make the wall safe.
However, the authority has explained that boundary walls are usually the responsibility of property owners.
Even so, the council is looking to help residents.
Ms Ball said she had been trying to raise awareness of the problem for a year and felt the city council had “not really helped us”.
She added: “It’s lucky that no-one has been hurt but it’s only a matter of time.
“The wall fell this morning without rain or wind so it shows how weak the structure has become.
“People’s safety should come first and then sort the paperwork out afterwards.”
A city council spokesperson said: “On-call engineers attended the site in the early hours of the morning, and structural engineers have returned to assess the situation.
“There has been a collapse of a different section of wall further along the road to the incident earlier this month. Residents were advised not to enter the affected gardens, which have been fenced off, and no damage has been caused to properties, so no evacuation was necessary.
“Boundary and retaining walls are generally the responsibility of property owners and we believe this to be the case here but, in situations like this, councils have the powers to carry out work which ensures people’s safety, with the ability to recover costs.
“We will continue to help residents with the clear-up operation and establish what the next steps are.”
Police Sergeant Paul Ferguson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Emergency services were called following a report of a wall collapsing in the early hours of this morning.
“Officers and on-call engineers were called to the incident in Windmill Lane at around 3.40am.
“There have been no reported injuries, damage to the house structure and no residents needed to be evacuated.
“Following an initial investigation by a structural engineer the wall and property were both deemed safe.”