MY HOUSE SHAKES – SAYS NEIGHBOUR AS RAT-RUN DRIVERS RACE ALONG STREETS
One’s even crashed into church wall
RATRUN motorists are using streets as a racetrack after a main road was shut by fire, say fed-up neighbours.
One Middleport man says drivers leave his house ‘shaking’ as they ignore a diversion away from a part of Newcastle Street that has been closed for a month by a building fire.
They are supposed to follow a 1.5km route along Westport Road and Davenport Street. But some cut through Ellgreave Street, St Paul Street, Church Square and Hall Street instead.
One has already crashed into a wall at St Paul’s Anglican Church and Community Centre, in Hall Street, pictured.
Neighbour James Gibson said: “There are a lot of lorries and people racing up and down the road. It’s difficult to get into the drive occasionally.
“It’s been awful for the past couple of weeks.”
The situation has not been helped by three-way temporary traffic lights on the official diversion, where Westport Road meets Greenhead Street.
Neighbour Rob Johnson added: “They put a diversion in place and then put roadworks on the diversion. It has been a long four weeks. I could build a house in four weeks let alone make one safe – it’s a joke. You’ve got wagons here and I can be in bed and the house shakes. When the traffic is tailed back to the churchyard they’re obviously not racing up and down so it’s not so bad but when there is no traffic and they come down and hit a pothole it’s like ‘bang’, you can feel the house shake.”
Stoke-on-trent City Council introduced the road closure after the April 7 fire.
It has given the building owner until next week to make the property safe.
It says it wants to reopen Newcastle Street as quickly as possible. Bus operator First Potteries is also avoiding Newcastle Street, until at least Monday.
A council spokesperson said: “We have been seeking to engage with the owner of the affected property who has been unresponsive. Now the city council has issued a notice to the property owner setting out our expectations for them to remove the danger/ demolish the buildings.
“If the owner does not undertake the works, the city council has powers to do so and to levy a charge on the property, as the continued closure of the road is not an option.”