Corsham residents fury over mountain of soil outside homes

Following protests by residents over the 2m high mound of topsoil brought to the estate by house builder, Redcliffe Home, a planning bid has been submitted to keep the mountain.

When it was first installed residents of Corsham’s Park Place found their gardens flooding and their open views and privacy spoiled.

Photo the ‘mountain of soil’ captured by Kevin Taylor

When alerted by the concerned residents, Wiltshire Council’s planning enforcement team declared that the mound was unlawful.

For its part Redcliffe said it was caused by an issue with the contractor, and has since put in permission to keep the soil pile which would “create an amenity and wildlife buffer”.

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Corsham’s Park Place Residents’ Association chairman, Kevin Taylor said that the retrospective plan was an “attempt to lower the level by as little as possible and minimise the cost to the developer”.

“We don’t think they’re [Redcliffe] removing more than 25 per cent of the soil they brought onto the site,” he continued.

“It will still be a large mound.”

This is a view shared by many residents commenting on the bid, who said the proposals will not properly address the overlooking issues, or the risk of flooding.

Mr Taylor also said if the soil was removed there would be a great deal of disturbance as “lorry-load after lorry-load” of removed earth treks back through the estate.

He added that some of the proposed mitigation works such as planting trees was work already due to happen under the original plans.

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There is also the concern that because power lines go across that portion of the site that the expense of maintaining the trees, and ensuring they don’t interfere with the power lines will come out of the residents’ pocket – rather than the developers.

Mr Taylor pointed out the dangers in planting near power lines

A spokesman for Redcliffe Homes said: “We are trying to resolve this matter as quickly and amicably as possible for local residents.

"The mound was put in place by a contractor and we are in a legal dispute with them, which we hope can be resolved quickly.

“A planning application has been submitted to remove the excess soil from this development.

"We regret that this issue is causing concern for local people."