Danger house!
Reporter: HELEN KORN and MARINA BERRY
Date published: 22 November 2011
DEATH trap . . . the house was left dangerously exposed last week after scaffolding and stonework collapsed.
Neighbours blast unsafe building
WORRIED neighbours have blasted work to repair a house that left the crumbling property in a treacherous state.
The end terrace in Rhodes Hill, Lees, was left unsecured and completely exposed for nearly a week after scaffolding and stonework collapsed. Council enforcement officers were called in to erect new scaffolding after the house was finally deemed unsafe.
Neighbours say the property had been empty for three years before being bought at auction. Work began to rebuild the gable end, but stopped six weeks ago.
Workmen had been witnessed “without hard hats on” digging a trench by the side of the house and the building was held up by just four support bars. On Saturday, November 12, the scaffolding toppled towards the house, forcing police to close the road for safety reasons until the early hours of the following day.
Before the council took action, local builder Terry Ward said the house was dangerous and did not have adequate scaffolding or fencing to secure it properly.
He said: “Children hang around on the corner near the house — it would only have taken one of them to decide to go crawling up the stairs and that building would come down.
“I’ve never seen anything as bad in my life. It looks like they have started to take the gable end down in an effort to rebuild it. The fire brigade taped it off but that’s not going to stop children getting in.
“The building needs to be made safe before people start working on the trench.”
One neighbour said: “I don’t know what’s going on with that house but it’s a mess — it’s been six weeks now and it doesn’t look safe to me. I’ve seen the skip-hire guys taking the stuff away but no actual work being done on the property.”
Another neighbour said: “It seems the foundations were taken out to rebuild the gable end and the ground holding scaffolding up gave way.
“It sent the scaffolding towards the house, and all the stones piled on it came rumbling down.”
He said he was relieved the council was now involved, and said he had been told officers would keep on top of it until something was done.
“I hope it will get resolved pretty quickly,” he said. “The house had been up for sale for about three years then it went to auction.”
A council spokesman said: “We received a call about the house and have sent enforcement officers out to inspect the property.”
Safety scaffolding was erected on Friday. A Health and Safety Executive spokesman said: “We are waiting to hear from the council regarding the action being taken.”
