COUNCIL contractors have been accused of a “slapdash attitude” towards completing works following the re-devlopment of a Warrington school.
Cllr Chris Vobe, (pictured) the newly-elected councillor for Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft, has hit out at Warrington Borough Council’s building contractors, BAM Construction, for what he described as a “slap dash” attitude to residents along Withington Avenue.
BAM Construction are the main building contractor for the school redevelopment project says their failure to complete “basic” work in the area surrounding the former Culcheth High School site, has left residents with an atmosphere and “uncertainty” and “despair”.
Commenting on the lastest works, Cllr Vobe said:”BAM’s attitude to this part of the village has been nothing short of farcical! It is beyond me how they can hope to be taken seriously as an organisation when even the most basic elements of this job seem to be an exercise in patience for people living nearby.
“After the new High School was complete, work should have been undertaken as a priority to ensure that the area around the old site was redeveloped as swiftly as possible, for the benefit of Withington Avenue residents. Instead, BAM have left the fencing around the site half-complete, and local people have seen things like rubble and waste just discarded on the road or the pavement.
“The most concentrated areas of neglect are situated directly opposite people’s front windows. Residents have had to endure not only unacceptable delays in the work, but half-completed jobs and a frankly slapdash attitude from the company. There just doesn’t seem to have been any consideration for the people who live here – people who take pride in their environment, and who shouldn’t be let down in this way.”
Councillor Vobe has pledged to contact the construction company directly and is calling on them to apologise to residents around the site for the atmosphere they have had to endure. He claims that although disruption is inevitable with building works, the levels which have been present on Withington Avenue are out of proportion.
“More than anything, it is the fact that BAM seem happy to leave jobs half done. They still haven’t completed the fencing around the site – and now say that the final installation will be another three weeks. I fail to see why residents in my ward should have to wait so long.”
Cllr Vobe is now pressing BAM to complete the job ahead of schedule and will be seeking reassurances from the council that they will review future contracts with BAM in light of these issues.
A council spokesperson said: “The erection of a length of fencing at the Culcheth High School site has taken longer than we anticipated but this will be resolved within the next two weeks. We are also aware of an issue of rubble on the footpath; this is not related to the school building project but was caused by vehicle impact. This is currently being addressed by the council’s highways team.”
Contractors slammed for slap dash attitude
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
7 Comments
Well Cllr Vobe – why is your Labour run council subjecting residents to a bum deal again – same old Labour going backwards again Warrington
Priorities, priorities, funny how he sees fit to contact the press before the company concerned !
Presumably, if Labour weren’t in power at the town hall he’d be blaming the council for not overseeing the project properly.
It is perhaps as well to remember this school project got off the ground and proceeded for the most part under the previous LibDem regime. In saying Labour was left to pick up the fallout from it, I am not trying to make a political statement – it is a fact. Warrington’s best interests are not served by scoring party political points from a situation which requires cross party cooperation. Yaboo and personality politics have occupied this borough for so long now, to the extent all parties have taken their eyes off the ball whilst the root causes of many of the borough’s problems have passed them by. During this time successive salary increases have been awarded to several senior officers, many of whom have been shown to be unfit for purpose, nonetheless they received their increases; and they are still employed by WBC. It is no wonder they have exploited, if not encouraged, this state of affairs to the full and were able to run the show, often ruinously, leaving the elected members to pick over the pieces and engage in unconvincing, meaningless political back-stabbing. Until this is changed and the elected members use their power and start to instruct as opposed to taking orders from the officials, Warrington people will continue to be short changed.
BAM the contractor for the school is a member of the Considerate Constructors’ organization, whose stated aim is to “Improve the image of the Construction Industry.” Their website is http://www.ccscheme.org.uk. CC has a hotline for just the sort of complaints mentioned in this article. Maybe the remedy for these complaints is better resolved by phoning the hotline rather than our politicians beating the hell out of one another?
no it would be the Lib Dems to blame- lets just get the dam thing dealt with because its the school and the children that should be the focus.
At last a sensible voice and reasoned argument…that is all we have been asking for.
Intreresting comments and the problem of officers, not elected councillors running the show is once again part of the debate, which reminds me, where is the long overdue results of the investigation into the officer led destruction of Warringtons planning records? This scandal was so ‘bad’ it made BBC main news! The enquiry took place in January, must be about time for it to see the light of day?