Dust everywhere

We are concerned about the large amount of dust being generated by the Hawkenbury Farm site and have written to Tom Mills, Site Manager, for Berkeley Homes about it. Our email is below. If you are being affected by the dust or it is having an impact on your health, please let us know. We will gather the evidence and then decide if any further steps are required.

Dear Mr Mills

I am writing to you about the deteriorating air quality being caused by your development at Hawkenbury Farm. The site is generating a huge amount of dust and this is having a negative impact on local residents.

The Hawkenbury area has an ageing population and we are concerned what impact all the dust and pollution will have on our local residents. I am also concerned about the amount of dust and, who knows what else, we are having to breathe in on a daily basis. I am sure your staff that work in these conditions have to have the appropriate PPE, but our residents do not have that luxury.

In addition to health concerns, we also need to deal with the following:

• Our cars are covered in dust.
• We cannot open windows as there is too much dust in the air.
• Outer frames of windows are covered in dust.
• If you open your windows, the inner frames, blinds and/or curtains are soon covered in dust.
• You cannot dry washing outdoors.
• Those of us with solar panels are seeing a drop in electricity due to dust settling on the panels.

Walking in the park this morning, the large clouds of dust were very evident and it would appear that you are doing nothing to alleviate the problem. I am sure Air Quality Management was part of the agreed planning consent. Under the Considerate Builders code, you are obliged to minimise the impact of vibration, and air, light and pollution. It would appear that you are not upholding this code.

Are you willing to compensate local residents for the damage you may be causing to their health and all the additional expense we have to go to to keep our property clean? Will you to do something to reduce the dust being generated by your site?

I have invited local residents to comment via our website and Facebook.

I have copied our local councillors and the planning department in on the email. I will let you know if we get a response from Berkeley Homes.