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Just needs a few ducks
COMPLETE with a "pond", this area of land
looks, at first glimpse, like a village green. Only the ducks are
missing.
But it is the cleared site of
the former pub, The Millfields, in Blagg Avenue. The "pond" is where the
pub's basement was.
So, no more shuttered windows,
and the car park is no longer used as a dumping ground. The site is
surrounded by a moat - well, a ditch - to prevent its use.
It is still something of an
eyesore and, as yet, no sign of the 14 houses for which planning consent
was sought.
Child danger fear
UPDATE: THE site
developers, Burland (near Nantwich) firm, Ploverdale Ltd, came under
fire from Crewe and Nantwich MP, Edward Timpson, and Nantwich Town
Councillors for not fencing off the site, according to The Nantwich
Chronicle (December 30).
It was feared that the water,
thought to be at least four feet deep, could be the scene of a tragedy
involving the children who play in the area. The water was frozen at the
time of the article.
The problem is that the site as
it is doesn't contravene planning regulations, and the Health and Safety
Executive has said it is for the Cheshire East Council environment
health people to get something done as it isn't yet a building site.
They are quoted as saying that "the state of the site does not pose a
problem.
Ploverdale said it needs to
sell all the houses on another site, in Damson Drive, before work can begin on the site of The Millfields. When it
does, the pond will be used for "grey water" - something that is
apparently "environmentally friendly". And they are quoted as saying:
"If we filled in the hole, we'd have to dig it out again."
They also said it was private
land and people shouldn't be on it. But there are
no physical barriers - apart from the small "ditch" which I have
mentioned.
Is it too much to put up
fencing, which will be needed when work begins anyway? Or is that still
needed at the Damson Drive development?
What drive?
NOTE: For people like me
who hadn't heard of Damson Drive, I have been pointed to the housing
development by local historian, Andrew Lamberton, who told me: "It is a
new development of something like 16 houses off The Beeches. Basically
the houses are built on the site of the old railway sidings."
That is, of course, nothing to
do with The Sidings in Pillory Street which is an entirely different
development.
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