Residents of West Midlands estate fear for homes after massive landslide

Residents in Haden Cross Drive in Cradley Heath are worried they could lose their homes because of a landslip.

Residents in Cradley Heath are worried they could lose their homes because of a landslip (Image: Emma Trimble / SWNS)

Residents in Haden Cross Drive, in Cradley Heath, West Mids., said the ground above their homes first began to slip in March last year – when a wall gave way.

Sandbags were propped up but bad weather in recent months and weeks has seen tons of earth slide down – with a massive mound now completely blocking the road to their cul-de-sac.

Now around a dozen homeowners – in homes which cost up to £400,000 – have been effectively ‘cut off’, unable to drive their cars up to, or away, from their homes.

The estate is privately owned by Dunedin Homes but residents say no one is taking responsibility for the landslip and they are now worried about their homes.

They have to park far away and trapse up to 100 metres through their neighbours’ gardens to get home.

The problem has been made worse by a lack of street lighting on the almost five-year-old estate which despite being installed has yet to be turned on.

It comes after some residents in nearby High Haden Crescent – less than half a mile away – have been left in fear of losing their homes after a giant landslide began slowly destroying their gardens.

Reece Aleksander, 33, an engineer says living on the estate is a “nightmare.”

He said his drive – near the biggest slip – has been blocked since March.

But larger slips in October say the road totally cut off – made worse by more landslides in December.

Reece Aleksander has lived on the estate 4 years

Reece Aleksander has lived on the estate 4 years (Image: Emma Trimble / SWNS)

“Since March when the wall first broke we’ve not been able to use our driveway and I’m certainly starting to get worried about it creeping further to where our garden is – it could end up breaking our garden wall and coming into our kitchen,” he said.

“We’ve got a one-year-old so not being able to use the drive has been a bit of a nightmare.

“Now that it’s come down fully, the parking situation has got a lot worse.

“The road has been blocked since October and it’s slowly made its way across the road and the path.

“There are 12 houses up past the landslide that can’t park near their house and have to park further away.

“I think we’re one of the lucky ones and as it’s only coming onto our drive we are lucky we can park outside our house on the street but every time we walk out the front door there’s a big pile of mud which isn’t great to look at.

“For the 12 houses that are completely blocked off – those residents have to walk across people’s front gardens to get to their houses.

“Even when we’ve had photographers here there have been little bits falling down.”

Despite the estate being privately owned, Reece believes Sandwell Council needs to step in.

He said: “The council isn’t interested because it’s a private road but then what do we pay council tax for?

“I think a steeper incline in the road to reduce the angle of the slope should have been done.

“The road and the land that has come down is owned by the developers and the wall that was there before was built by another company.

“No one is accepting responsibility.”

Rachael Howard has lived on the estate 3.5 years.

Rachael Howard has lived on the estate 3.5 years. (Image: Emma Trimble / SWNS)

Another resident, firefighter Rachael Howard, 34, said the lack of street lighting has made the problem much worse.

She added: “I’m not in one of the 12 houses that can’t get access at the moment but we’re letting one of the neighbours use part of our driveway and other people are parking outside of the house all the time.

“It’s a nightmare, especially with the lack of street lighting.

“It’s awful for residents – I’m looking straight at it and I just see it progressively getting worse.

“Over Christmas with all those storms we had and seeing people carrying newborns and small children past it – it’s dangerous.

“It’s getting worse and worse that now it’s on the pavements. Are the pavements going to have to be closed? I think they should be, even today bits are just falling down all the time.

“The temporary measure with the sandbags was exactly that, temporary, as that’s now given way.”

Reece agreed with Rachael on the street lighting problem and says it’s causing accidents as people try to navigate the landslide.

He said: “People are having to use our driveway as a turning point.

“There have been accidents where people have bumped other cars.

“We’ve not had street lights working since the estate was built and we’ve been here five years.

“For the last two years, the lights have been in place but they’ve not been on.”

Rachael said the situation has been left for “far too long” to establish responsibility.

She said: “The developers paid someone else to build the wall around it before it broke so it’s been left and left for far too long to establish who’s responsible.”

Reece added: “People don’t want to live in constant fear or something happening.”

Aerial view of the landslip

Aerial view of the landslip (Image: Emma Trimble / SWNS)

Developer Dunedin Homes and Sandwell Council have been approached for comment.

But speaking to the , Dunedin Homes said it understood “as the landowner that it is our responsibility, pending legal actions, to make safe the slope”.

They added that this work began in December, but was suspended when tips closed for Christmas.

The developer apologised to residents for disruption, which they say is not of their making.

The landowner, Dunedin Haden Cross, say the problem was first reported to them in March 2024.

The statement continued: “Since then we have been working closely with those who completed the original design for the slope’s stability, and installed a wall to try to understand the cause of the slippage.”

“Dunedin Haden Cross do not accept any liability for the slope failure and in the matter of costs and liability the insurers and loss adjusters have been notified and our solicitors are closely monitoring all correspondence,” it said.

Sandwell Council said it was in “ongoing contact with the developer.”

A spokesperson said: “We completely understand their concerns.

“Even though the land is not owned by the council we have, however, been in ongoing contact with the developer to check what action the management company responsible for maintenance and repair is taking to rectify the problem.”

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