The stress, tears, it's been an emotional rollercoaster

NEIGHBOURS HIT WITH £1M WALL REPAIR BILL SPEAK OUT

- RUCSANDRA MOLDOVEANU

IT was a quiet winter evening in 2021 for residents on Windmill Lane, Sneinton, when they were suddenly awoken to a cloud of dust and a great bang outside their properties.

Nothing could have prepared them for the horrific sight, as a 70ft retaining wall collapsed at the back of their homes.

What they were, perhaps, even more unprepared for, was Nottingham City Council passing on the burden of covering the repair costs - which surveyors have quoted as high as £1million split between six properties.

The wall in question was built in 2003 after it was commissioned by the council. It replaced a 100-plus-year-old Victorian wall that had become unstable due to factors such as weathering.

Residents were billed for the work and were “very happy everything was going to be done properly”.

Eighteen years later, however, the wall behind numbers 147-157 collapsed, on February 3, 2021.

More than four years on, the ruins are still there, with no plans in place for the landscape to change.

Luke Drayton, a 30-year-old finance manager who has lived in Windmill Lane for nine years, said insurance companies have refused to cover the repair costs.

He said a small number of insurers had contributed, however, towards the costs involved for clearing up the debris - £60,000.

£1million repair cost is a ‘no-go

Between the six houses affected by the collapse on Windmill Lane, residents were quoted between £600,000 to £1million for the repairs. This is for an area where the average house price is between £140,000 - £220,000.

Mr Drayton said: “We all lost half of our gardens. At the moment, the gardens are not structurally safe and we can’t do anything about it until a new wall is put in place.

“The £1million cost is a no-go for everybody given the value of the houses.”