Councillor Tracey Huffer and I have expressed our frustration at the length of time it is taking for roadworks at the junction of Station Drive with Upper Galdeford and Gravel Hill. Most of the time there are no workers on the site – except for the operative who sits in a van all day in case the temporary traffic lights fail. Town buses inbound to the town centre are being diverted via Weeping Cross and Old Street in an attempt to keep to timetable.
Now Western Power has responded to our complaints. Here is the company’s statement:
“As we install sections of the new cable, we transfer the supplies to each property. The delay, as always, is arranging separate calls for each connected customer; as the job progresses, we have to move back and forth along the route to fit disconnections in and this can impinge on our plans.”
“We have overlaid the electricity supply network from Portcullis substation, in stages, across the rear of the car park and towards Station Drive Surgery.”
“As we stand now, we have completed about two thirds of the job, we will be reinstating the last few stretches of public highway over the weekend and the start of next week, we are reducing the work areas too, as regards each separate service; what we have left is Station Drive Surgery, the Social Club and the last 5 houses. When all customers have been transferred, we will remove some old switching equipment on the corner of Station Drive and Gravel Hill. We have a Permit until 3rd March but if all goes well we may be finished a bit earlier”.
Shropshire Council is to continue to inspect the site regularly. It is pushing for earlier completion and continued compliance with the applied permit conditions. If the works overrun unreasonably, the council will take enforcement action which might include daily charges and fixed penalty notices.
I have found Western power technical staff much better than the previous company, this has been both on work directly outside my house and on a site in Shrewsbury.
They have been contactable and civil in their responses.
The contractor that made good afterwards was “adequate” so I would probably continue to monitor
Western Power are also working on Squirrel Lane which has been closed for some time now. They, or someone, has in the meantime chopped down most of the woodland on this stretch of the lane. Andy, do you know why this has been done and was it really necessary?
No. The only woodland clearance I have seen was beyond Ledwyche Bridge, which was I thought routine woodland cropping and management. That said, I have not been that way for three weeks due to broken ribs 🙁
Hi Jonathan Chamberlain.
I am the owner of the land on which the felling of the trees you refer to has taken place. It is effectively my garden.
We had no choice but to fell the trees: there was a row of poplars along the lane that were dying so had to come down to prevent them falling on the lane and the telephone wire. In order to fell them we also had to remove the pines between the lane and the remaining trees. While we were at it we took down rows of pines closer to the bridge. I can assure you this was done reluctantly as we are painfully aware that the beauty of the lane (and our garden) has been significantly compromised. My children are distraught to have lost their “fairy woods”.
I apologise if you miss the woods – so do we. We will be replanting this spring, and whilst it will obviously take time, our intention is to create something more beautiful than what was there before – which was a wood made of pine and poplar. Collectively the pines did make a wood, but individually they were pretty ugly – so hopefully we will succeed in our aim to add beauty rather than take it away.
So Andy is right, it was routine woodland management. I only wish it had been cropping as this would imply we had done it voluntarily and for profit: the absolute opposite is true in both cases.
Finally, and for the record, the closure of the lane has nothing to do with us or the felling. It has everything to do with the solar farm being built further along the lane. As Andy will testify, I and my neighbours asked why this had to be done, and if it was necessary….and the powers that be decided it was. I suspect that blot on the landscape will outlast the temporary one caused by the felling of our trees.
Again, let me apologise if you miss the woods. We are working as hard as we can to rectify the negative impact the work has had. I only hope the developers behind the solar farm follow suit.
Hi Phil
Thanks for letting me know. I understand that the felling of trees sometimes has to take place. I’m only glad it wasn’t thoughtlessly done to make life a bit easier for Western Power and the people behind the solar farm.
Jonathan