Nottingham Post

‘This flood should never have happened, it was completely preventabl­e, and a year on people are still not back in their homes and lives have been ruined’

RESIDENTS STILL WAITING FOR ANSWERS AFTER DEVASTATIN­G FLOOD

- By JOSHUA HARTLEY joshua.hartley@reachplc.com @Joshhartle­y70

A HOMEOWNER has demanded answers over the “ruinous” disaster which has left his home uninhabita­ble for more than a year.

Homes in Chilwell were flooded on March 7 last year after builders struck a huge Severn Trent water pipe while constructi­ng an extension behind the former Nottingham College campus on High Road as part of a student accommodat­ion scheme.

Residents were evacuated from their homes and roads became fastflowin­g streams, with people making makeshift barriers from wheelie bins, tiles and bags of earth.

Some homeowners, who had to throw out belongings and gut their damp houses, have still not been able to return more than a year after thge catastropi­c error.

Professor John Coyne’s home on Lime Grove Avenue, which had been extensivel­y renovated in the years before the flooding, had to be completely gutted after it was battered by water which shot out of the damaged pipe. It will be months until he can move back in.

“I wasn’t here at the time, but my wife refused to be evacuated as she was desperatel­y trying to move our precious items to the side of the house that was less affected,” he said. “She had made a linen barrier to stop the water from getting to the oak floor, but all the water was coming in from top to bottom as it was shooting over the roof through the house.

“We redid the house because we wanted it to be sorted for the rest of our lives. Now my wife bursts into tears every time she sees it – she still has nightmares about being in here and running around for hours trying to save everything.”

Professor Coyne’s home is insured, but the claim is so large that he fears it will make his property uninsurabl­e in the future.

Incensed by the damage caused to his home, he started to inquire who was at fault for the broken pipe, and concluded that owner High Road Developmen­ts Limited and Broxtowe Borough Council were to blame. High Road Developmen­ts Limited was set up by property firm ALB Group’s owner Arran Bailey and director of HBW Constructi­on Harry Whyte.

Ilkeston-based contractor HBW Constructi­on, whose workers hit the large pipe, was recently placed in liquidatio­n partially due to the damage inflicted in the incident.

But despite sending hundreds of emails and a raft of Freedom of Informatio­n requests, which suggested the developers were informed of the pipe, the retired academic has still not received any closure.

In Severn Trent’s response to the plans for the college, gained by Professor Coyne through a Freedom of Informatio­n request, the supplier had stated “no build over is permitted” due to the 800mm pipe and that a diversion would need to be applied for.

“Given what I have discovered, ALB and HBW should have well known there was a water main there,” he said.

“But the simple question remains if you know that a plan has been submitted that plans over a water main why didn’t you go and visit and why was it not in your remit?”

Broxtowe Borough Council said there were no grounds for its planning department to turn down the project, as Severn Trent’s warning on the water mains was not an objection, and was not sufficient grounds to refuse permission.

“This flood should never have happened. It was completely preventabl­e, and a year on people are still not back in their homes and lives have been ruined,” Professor Coyne added.

“It has been a year and those affected are no nearer getting answers than they were directly afterwards. There may have been a generic apology from ALB and the council, but there has been no accountabi­lity.”

Arran Bailey, director of High

Road Developmen­ts Limited and ALB Group, declined to comment.

A spokespers­on for the project, which was adorned with ALB Group and HBW Constructi­on hoardings during the conversion of the old college, previously said only HBW Constructi­on was on site at the time of the pipe damage.

Broxtowe Borough Council said that contractor­s working on the property and the developera­ppointed Building Control provider should have been aware of the pipe and added that advisory notes from Severn Trent had been passed on. In response to criticism of the council’s decision to grant planning permission, a spokespers­on said: “Issues such as drainage, sewerage, gas connection­s and similar are not a matter for the planning department.

“These are issues for the contractor and for the relevant Building Control provider to assess and deal with during constructi­on. All advisory notes from Severn Trent the council received for the relevant schemes were passed on to the developer including the need to work with Severn Trent Water in order to obtain any necessary diversion to water mains.”

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the national regulator for workplace health and safety, had been investigat­ing whether any regulation­s had been breached at the site. But after months of examining the incident and making inquiries, HSE investigat­ors confirmed in January they would not be taking any action.

A HSE spokespers­on said: “We investigat­ed safety concerns relating to this incident, focusing on identifyin­g any breaches of health and safety law and ensuring that any ongoing risk was being managed. Our investigat­ion concluded that there were no material breaches.”

 ?? JOSEPH RAYNOR ?? Professor John Coyne at his water-damaged home in Lime Grove Avenue, Chilwell. It will be months before he can move back in
JOSEPH RAYNOR Professor John Coyne at his water-damaged home in Lime Grove Avenue, Chilwell. It will be months before he can move back in
 ?? ?? Water gushing out of the damaged pipe in Chilwell on March 7 last year
Water gushing out of the damaged pipe in Chilwell on March 7 last year

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