Saturday, March 20, 2010
New flats blast fear
Friday 17th July 2009, 2:19PM BST.
A £40 million Student Village in Wolverhampton faces being closed down before it even opens its doors – because of potentially explosive gas cylinders stored nearby.
The 25-storey development near the city centre is at risk, along with three other multi-million-pound projects given planning permission by Wolverhampton City Council.
Today it was revealed that court action was being launched against the council by the Health and Safety Executive amid concerns the 750-room Student Village would be at risk should the propane gas cylinders and tanks explode.
The gas is stored at Carvers builders merchants, in Little’s Lane, which has had Hazardous Substances Consent for more than 15 years.
When a planning application was submitted for the Culwell Street flats, council officers noted the development fell within the blast zone from Carvers, but still recommended it for approval.
It was supported by a planning committee led by former chairman Councillor Paul Sweet in March last year and sent for delegated approval last August.
Today, just weeks before hundreds of students are due to move in, its future was thrown into doubt as it emerged that legal action was being taken against the council.
HSE spokesman Neil Whelan said a claim for a judicial review had been lodged which could see the permission revoked.
Council officers and lawyers are now looking into the effects a judicial review could have on the high rise block and other developments that fall within the blast zone, including Springfield Brewery, The Peel Retail Centre and Low Level Station.
Wolverhampton Director for Regeneration and Environment Steve Boyes said the council was aware of the HSE concerns, adding: “As far as the council is aware, there is nothing which justifies any cause for alarm for existing residents and businesses and we believe that this point will be confirmed by the HSE.”
Exclusive by Victoria Nash
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why didnt the health and safety stop the job while it was being built surely it was just as dangerous for the construction workers who built it more legal fees in the pipeline
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thats it then we will have to move w/ton train line aswell which goes right past carvers. grow up people for gods sake
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In 1986 I was in a big warehouse in France when there was an important fire.There were gas railway wagons outside and a very similar gas bottle plant opposite.We got out with great difficulty and there were flames twenty metres high only metres from the other plant.We were absolutely terrified.There was a wave of complaints from flats and schools and people were furious.Now this Primagaz plant has been closed and converted into an office development.
I saw the flats in Wolverhampton three weeks ago and I also noticed the gas bottles.Be warned : don’t let them suffer what we suffered in La Courneuve outside Paris.(The Fire brigade said that if the wind had been wrong everything over a kilometre or so would have been flattened with the number iof gas bottles).
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yet just another serga for the over paid council {won,t say workers cause they didn,t take anynoticenoted the development fell within the blast zone from Carvers,they just thought of the income,lets kick,em out on to the dole and get people in that won,t waste the people of wolverhampton money and take note of wo,nt we what
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It’s hardly going to be difficult to find somewhere to put the gas bottles if the HSE does win the review.
Obviously, Carvers will have the council and the developers over a barrel when it comes to getting them (and I guess, the local taxpayers) to fund that transfer.
If the council does lose, then the councillors and the professional staff should be sacked for incompetence (no sniggering…I’m sure some member of a public body must have been sacked for incompetence sometime, somewhere…errr).
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Well i didnt know that Carvers dealt with Haz products. Nor was i aware of a “Blast Zone”. Surly they shouldnt have built it knowing the dangers? What will happen if they have to close the doors of the flats before they have opened, i mean £40M to waste again!!
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WOLVERHAMPTON CITY COUNCIL – UNSPOILT BY PROGRESS ! Our Council Tax pays for the fat salaries of these overpaid incompetent jobsworths at the Council – heads should roll ! Alot of Council Workers wouldn’t last 5 minutes in the real world of business – about time they culled the deadwood from the Council and started thinking about the honest citizens of Wolverhampton who pay their wages !
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The planners really are having a rough time of it lately… how do they manage to be so incompetent and keep making schoolboy mistakes over and over again? In a real world job they’d get the boot.
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In case this has escaped a few of you, the Council staff, who you are all so quick to judge and demand be sacked, did point out that the site fell within the blast zone. Both Carvers and the BOC plant in Horsley Fields are automatically checked in every planning application registered. I know this, because I helped set the checks up when I worked as WCC.
When any application is within the boundaries of the “blast zones” or consolation areas (as they are known to ever organisation that isn’t trying to dramatise everything) notifications are automatically sent to organisations such as the HSE.
The decision to approve this application would not have been taken by any of Wolverhampton’s planning officers. It would have been decided by the planning committee. This is made up primarily of council members – that’s Councillors for anyone who doesn’t know – and its purpose is to make decisions on applications unsuitable for a single officer to action. The staff can only make recommendations; if the committee decide to over rule these, there is nothing they can do and the application is passed. Consequently, any member of the public can participate and make representation at the Committee meetings.
So, Big D, Al & True Black and Gold, check what the actual facts are before being so quick to judge. That is of course unless you are willing to accept every bit of biased rubbish E&S spoon feed you. However, if you still feel the need to kick em out and get people in who won’t waste tax payer’s money, good luck. You’d end up with consultants and believe me; they can make a bigger mess of most things than any permanent paid member of staff.
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