Residents criticise developers over ‘eyesore’ electricity sub-station

People living on Leeds Road in Allerton Bywater are being forced to keep their curtains and blinds closed after diggers moved onto the field opposite their homes.

They have claimed that even though they were aware of plans to build up to 114 homes on greenfield land, on Queen Street, they were not told about the electricity sub-station.

A Government planning inspector gave the green light for the new homes to be built after developers took the scheme to a public inquiry.

Di Bellwood has lived on the road for the last 53 years and claimed that she can see the new sub-station from her sofa.

The 73-year-old said: “I only found out that it was going to be a sub-station when I saw workers digging on the site the other day.

“It’s going to make me ill having to look at that smack bang in front of my window every day.

“I measured from my wall to the sub-station and it is just 12 feet away from it.

“We have got to stop this because I have been told that we can’t do anything about this.

“I have lived in my house for 53 years and there used to be a tiny sub-station there years and years ago but this is going to be 12ft high.”

Dozens of residents have staged a campaign against the housing scheme and submitted objections against Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd’s proposals to develop the site. The residents maintained that they were not told about the sub-station in the original scheme.

Now residents are calling for developers to move the “eyesore” away from their homes to relocate it to a site further into the housing development.

Campaigner Donna Riley, 30, who lives on Leeds Road, added: “It’s just an eyesore.

“I have got three children and just worry about the increase in traffic from the site.

“What happens if I want to sell my home with that sub-station straight outside?

“I think it would be better if the developer put it somewhere else on the site.”

Nobody was available for comment yesterday from Taylor Wimpey.