Giant factory building work by Calderdale firm causing flooding to houses claim residents

Controversy surrounds the plant in Bradley, which operated by Calderdale-based Aflex Hose, the world’s leading manufacturer of hoses for the automotive and pharmaceutical industries.

Householders on Miramar in Bradley have appealed to Kirklees Council to take measures to protect their houses from on-going drainage issues they believe have been caused by building work on the huge site.

And a senior figure with the council has commented: “Something is clearly not right at this site.”

One resident said Aflex’s development on the 11.6-acre site had destroyed existing land drains. He denied Storm Ciara was to blame for causing last weekend’s flooding.

“This is not due to the adverse weather,” he said.

“We never had flooding problems when this site was a meadow and did its job as a meadow and soaked up rainfall, releasing it slowly into the woods.

“It is entirely down to their earthworks and levelling of the site.”

He said staff on site had attempted to divert some water but that a pond to hold run-off had overflowed as it was too small.

Mud was also washed off the site into nearby Lower Fell Greave Wood whilst run-off is eroding Old Lane, a former toll road now used as a bridleway.

He added: “Aflex should not have been allowed to get this far into the construction without having adequate drainage in place.

“We warned the planning committee how important this meadow was for wildlife and as a storage for rainfall but were ignored.”

And he asked Kirklees Council: “What action are you going to take to sort this mess out?”

Karl Battersby, the council’s Strategic Director for Economy and Infrastructure said: “Planning permission was approved for the Aflex Hose site on the condition that necessary drainage works were completed by the developer.

“We have been contacting the developer regularly to request updates on these works, and officers kept in contact with residents and have visited the site.

“Something is clearly not right at this site and our planning enforcement team is now looking into the issue to see whether everything has been completed as agreed and if any action needs to be taken.”

Residents also appealed to local councillors Harpreet Uppal, Amanda Pinnock and James Homewood, who all represent Ashbrow ward, for their help.

Responding on behalf of himself and his colleagues Clr Homewood said: “I’ve asked the Kirklees planning enforcement team for this to be looked into urgently to see if the cause of this may be linked to the failure to implement the required planning drainage conditions.

“I appreciate they will need a little time to look into this.

“We will be keeping in touch with the residents affected and will support them in whatever way we can to resolve the problem – whether that be with the council or Aflex.”

Aflex Hose was approached to comment.