Safety fears over Bournemouth building site (From Bournemouth Echo)

Safety fears over Bournemouth building site

12:00pm Tuesday 22nd January 2013 in News

A RESIDENT and a businesswoman fear that a town centre building site could lead to someone having a serious accident.

Alex De Freitas, who runs the Good Food by Alex restaurant in Lansdowne Road, Bournemouth, and Karol Toroczak, 31, who lives with his family above the restaurant, say they have been trying to get action taken over the site behind 225a Old Christchurch Road.

They say barriers erected have been vandalised and, aside from fly tipping and rubble, they fear someone could fall over the edge.

Karol said: “Generally it’s a danger.

“There are families with children and students around here.

"I’m worried about my child. My oldest one, Emma, who is two, looks around there. Nobody is taking this seriously.”

Alex added: “The builder promised to seal it off when they left the site in the summer.

“In about November I got onto the council every day and they put some temporary plastic barriers up, but they have been damaged and knocked aside, so it’s open again.

“My fear is I have to reverse into that area in my car and there’s no lamp post there now.

“It’s a worry for people’s safety, or a car reversing into it.

“There are a lot of homeless people around here and every morning I wonder if I’m going to see a dead body in there.”

When the Daily Echo contacted the council, it said it had revisited the site and repaired the barriers and said the Health and Safety Executive was aware of the situation.

Mark Cook, Bournemouth Borough Council’s building control officer, said: “It is the developer’s responsibility to make a construction site safe, with the Health and Safety Executive enforcing any health and safety concerns that are raised.

“We are aware that the developer has attempted to make the site safe by erecting fencing and hoarding but these have been damaged by members of the public.

“We have been monitoring the situation and have reacted immediately when we have been made aware of any reoccurring damages.”

The Daily Echo has not yet been able to reach the site’s developer.

'Bins are inadequate'

ALEX De Freitas also said that refuse bins behind the businesses in Lansdowne Road were ‘inadequate’, filling up within two days of their weekly collection dates and attracting rats.

Hamish Greenwood, refuse and recycling manager at the council, said: “Although we have received no official complaint or request for extra bin capacity at 1 Lansdowne Lane, we have been down to look at the domestic waste and recycling provision in that area.

“There are currently three 660- litre bins for waste, but these are being replaced by larger capacity bins, which will complement the existing service. There is also a bin that has been burnt which we are replacing. We will continue to monitor the situation.”