Stamford Brook residents slam play area and road

12:25pm Thursday 24th July 2008

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ANGRY residents on the flagship Stamford Brook development in Broadheath made their feelings clear to the developers at a packed public meeting.

The homeowners at the Stamford Brook development vented their frustration over anti-social behaviour, the siting of a play area and the dangers caused by a new link road.

At the special neighbourhood forum meeting, at Broadheath Primary School, the police revealed there had been a catalogue of problems over the past 10 weeks. There were 102 incidents with 87 of these related to anti social behaviour, including fires and railway line chippings being thrown at houses.

But Inspector Simon Wright of Altrincham police said he was confident they would quickly tackle the problems.

One of the main issues was a children's play area, built just eleven metres away from homes, that has become a meeting area for rowdy youths.

Recently a youth hurled a stone at a Messenger photographer who spotted them trespassing in the play area in the evening.

The residents, who said their loss of privacy was unbearable, called for the play area to be moved - but the only concession offered by the developers was improved screening..

One of the householders said: "How can we feel comfortable when we can't have our windows or doors open, and have stones thrown.

"We can't sleep at night - so how can you?"

The residents demanded to know why planning permission had been granted five years ago for a play area so close to homes, and why a condition that it should be completed before anyone moved in had been breached.

Trafford's chief planning officer, Simon Castle, said: "Five years ago when we dealt with the planning application we did not have any representations made to us that this was not a sensible place to locate it.

"We consulted with the police and if they had said there might be an issue we would have taken it very seriously."

He said shifting the play area was an issue for the developers - Bryant Homes, Redrow Homes and the National Trust.

Bryant Homes' Rick Fairclough said they could look to improve screening, but when he was asked how that would cut down the noise he said: "There is not a lot we can do about that."

Residents also claimed that large numbers of cars speeding down a new link road, Turnbull Road, were a danger, particularly to children, and ruined what was intended to be a tranquil estate.

They were told that the road was a condition of planning permission being given for the estate - although some people claimed they were not told this when they bought their houses.

Insp Wright said he would start a network survey to see if it was necessary to carry out special enforcement on the route.

Addressing the general problem of anti-social behaviour caused by youths descending on the area, he said extra officers, and the mobile 'cop shop' would be brought in to deal with this. He was also aiming to set up a permanent satellite base for community support officers in the area.

The award-winning development, on the edge of the National Trust's Dunham Massey estate, prides itself on its eco-friendly approach to the environment..