‘It’s a mess’ - Wigan residents angered as wall is demolished

Michelle Jones, from Whiteside Avenue in Springfield, has always had a mystery, unadopted wall protruding from her end terrace home to create a cul-de-sac with the property opposite the side of the road.

But now the council has sent workmen down to knock most of it down because of safety issues, leaving what Michelle and partner Shaun Ecclestone call “a real mess” including loose bricks sticking out of the side of her house.

“However, just before lockdown there was a slight increase in anti-social behaviour. The neighbours across the road had some loose bricks, so people were getting into their garden through the wall.

“Because of this they wanted to contact the council to get the wall taken down but we didn’t want it to cause more problems because it is a quiet street.

“We had our local councillor come and have a look at it and he said only part of the wall needed rebuilding.”

The wall was left as it was up until the beginning of October.

Michelle said: “Our neighbours came over and said the council were coming out to have a look at the wall and repair it.

“We had no contact from the council to say this was happening and when we returned home one day, the wall had been knocked down and it was awful.”

The wall’s removal also damaged the house

opposite.

“The guy who did the job was from a roofing company and when he came back to look at it he said it just needed patching up which we were appalled by.

“It has left holes in the side of our house, it is terrible. Our neighbour’s house hasn’t got as much damage, they were left with some bricks to help repair it.

“We were left with no materials and now we are struggling to get quotes for repairs because the bricks are so old builders are struggling to find them”.

The wall being knocked down has knocked £5,000 off the value from the house, Michelle says.

The couple are not only upset but also worried for people’s safety.

“When my nieces and nephews come, we have to stand in front of the wall to stop them running up to it. We have also had to stop children from around the corner from coming up here on their bikes because we don’t want anyone to get hurt.

“Also when it’s dark, one of us has to stand outside when we come home from work because we’re just so afraid that someone could jump out.

“Everyone who sees it is so shocked by how it has been left.”

A Wigan Council spokesperson said: “After concerns were raised about the condition of a wall on Whiteside Avenue in Springfield which had been partially demolished, our building control team carried out an assessment which deemed it posed a risk to residents and needed to be removed.

“This demolition was organised by Wigan Council’s in-house works team and was carried out by one of our contractors. The wall was removed but due to it being part of the construction of the original neighbouring properties, its removal left some cosmetic issues where the wall formerly adjoined the dwellings.

“To rectify these cosmetic issues, the residents are being offered a small section of wall to be re-built to correct the cosmetic issue on the corners of the properties.”

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