A DAILY procession of lorries from a major development site is turning an Altrincham road into a a 'sea of mud'.

Residents living along Moss Lane face a daily chore of having to sweep up piles of black dirt from their gardens and even inside their houses.

It is claimed the dirt is being blown off unsheeted lorries taking rubbish from the Welman House site on Moss Lane, the former regional headquarters of British Gas (BG).

Residents and Cllr Barry Hepburn believe BG is failing to keep its pledges made last year during consultations, to take measures to ensure residents were not disrupted by the work.

Cllr Hepburn reckons British Gas has not delivered on its promises on wheel washes, sheeting lorries, and street cleaning on Moss Lane, which runs from Altrincham town centre into Hale.

He says not all lorries are sheeted and the contractors are declining to do so. The Hale ward councillor claims adequate checks are not carried out to ensure the wheel washes are being used.

And he branded the level of road sweeping as a 'joke'.

Cllr Hepburn stormed: "The response from BG and their agents is one of platitudes - more assurances, more commitments but no action. Last Monday I walked along Moss Lane and it was a sea of mud, yet BG's environmental consultant said it looked OK to him.

"The site engineer admitted at 4pm that the roads had not been swept that day."

John Stone, a Moss Lane resident, adds: "The pavements at Moss Lane are filthy and the dirt on the road goes all the way up to the town centre. When they do sweep the road it is only a short stretch and only one side."

The site is being cleared in preparation for a multi million pound development - which includes 150 new houses, playing fields, a wildlife corridor and a new Royal Mail sorting office.

A spokesman for BG Property says the works are being carried out in close

consultation with Trafford Council.

While BG takes seriously any complaints the project "inevitably involves some potential for disturbance."

He continues: "Neither the demolition of Welman House nor the excavation and recycling of the former Victorian waste dump at the site can be expected to be completed without some scope for wind borne dust and migration of material from the site."

But BG's contractors had taken every possible precaution to minimise problems while the firm's environmental consultants also regularly monitored the situation.

He adds: "BG Property cannot agree that no action has been taken in response to views expressed by Cllr Hepburn or by local residents. We also provide a 24 hour response point for any telephone complaints or incident reports.

"We have also held regular site meetings with the council's environmental protection services staff, which at no stage has sought to invoke any enforcement measures to counter alleged disturbances of any kind, on a project which has now been under way for 17 weeks."

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