Blot on the landscape

Photo: Darren Robinson

DUMP: residents are unhappy.

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

A HOUSING development site which promised to protect a selection of trees and spruce up a run-down area has become a wasteland.

Residents close to land off Aspull Street, Roundthorn, have become tired of the failure to complete the site, once home to Roundthorn Primary School.

The land was bought by a man named Kumar in 2003 and now boasts eight luxury homes - but is shrouded by a patch covered in rubbish, disused building materials and tree stumps.

The original planning application said the space would be largely retained as a copse “as a contribution to public space”.

Today the site is littered with the trunks of trees that have been felled to accommodate the new houses: no replacements have been planted.

Residents are now planning to take action against Mr Kumar and the council, who they claim agreed to take responsibility for ownership and maintenance of the site in 2003.

George Kay of the Roundthorn and Roxbury Residents’ Association said: “This area has become completely ignored. It is a blot on the landscape. It is almost nine years since that original planning application and we’ve had to put up with this eyesore all this time.

“We know the applicant hasn’t done anything illegal - but he has varied his application constantly, to avoid having to finish the site.”

Councillor Jean Stretton, Cabinet member for neighbourhoods and devolved services, said: “None of this land is in council ownership, but we will be investigating matters arising from the original planning application and into residents’ concerns about the trees.