Lib Dem Councillors force Kajima clean-up

4.33.47pm GMT Wed 8th Nov 2006

Liberal Democrat councillors in North Road ward, Steve Jones and Fred Lawton, have been chasing the Council for months to force Kajima, the company which built the new Harrowgate Hill Primary School, to clear up the mess they left in North Park.

Kajima they used a corner of North Park as their building site. They built huts for the workmen and stored building materials there. When they had finished work, they left the messy building site as it was.

Their contract stated that they had to make good the land, but they left a messy wasteland of uneven ground, with concrete blocks and steel rods sticking out of the ground. It's amazing that children crossing over it on their way to school have not been injured.

Following Lib Dem pressure, the Council have decided to do the job themselves and to charge Kajima for the cost of the work and materials needed to restore that area of North Park to the pleasant parkland it used to be.

In the meantime, while that work is done, Steve and Fred are pursuing Kajima to keep its promise to erect a fence and gate between the Longfield Road flats and the school: to block access to the Park by horses and motorbikes.