'Reasonable measures' being taken says Coventry council as residents claim they're being 'choked'

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A 544 student accommodation is in the process of being built



Coventry City Council has said "reasonable measures" are being taken to combat dust from a building project which will see an office building transformed to a 544-room student living complex. The comments come after residents said the demolition of Progress House on Westwood Way had left them feeling "choked".

The plans for the new building have been controversial from the start, with both residents and local councillors raising concerns. Despite the application being rejected to begin with, a successful appeal has seen the project go ahead.

But the work has not been met warmly by members of the local residents association, some of whom feel procedures for the demolition were not followed correctly initially.

A spokesman for the City Council said: "This development went to Planning Committee, where councillors rejected the proposal. However, the developer filed an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate who overturned the committee’s decision and granted permission.

"Since then, the Council has been working with the developer to ensure they are following guidelines. As part of this work, an unannounced site visit was recently carried out, which found work was in line with the planning agreements, and that approved working hours are being followed.

"With regard to the issues of dust, whilst dust cannot be eliminated totally during periods of dry weather, the developer is taking reasonable measures to limit dust emissions and using mobile dust suppression cannons and water sprays to regularly damp down roads."

Ian Stevenson, who is chair of the Westwood Heath Residents Association, previously told CoventryLive: "We are getting choked by the development, quite literally because of the dust from the demolition.

"It's calmed a bit now that we have complained, but before everything was coated, I've walked through the woods nearby everyday for 14 years but I was having to wear a mask it was that bad. They might be sticking to the regulations and policies now, but let me tell, they certainly weren't when it started."

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'Building site issues since 2019 had an impact'



A man who lives opposite a building site says he cannot open the windows of his house because of the dust and noise disruption it has been causing for six years.

Glenn Ager, 49, lives off Westwood Heath Road, Coventry, and said the problems have had a "real impact" on his life.

Building on the site, managed by Crest Nicholson Homes and William Davis Homes, began in 2019 and will have 425 new homes when it is completed.

Warwick District Council said while it has received complaints, its officers have not witnessed any breaches when visiting the site. The house-building firms have said they had responded to complaints and were monitoring the situation.

Mr Ager who's lived opposite the site for 19 years says he can't believe he's the only person to raise complaints.

"I'm not fully aware of how many other people have raised the same concerns as I have - I can't believe that it has [only] been us as individuals perpetually raising it," he said.

"But I do think, there's an apathy here. People just know that they can't tackle it [like ourselves] and I think people just get fed up with raising it, so they end up just accepting it and they shouldn't."

He said residents have "continually" had problems with the noise and dust and he has raised it "perpetually" with the developers, local authority and HSE.

"We've got to a point where we can't have windows open in the day because of the dust ingress," he said.