Subsidence Damages House

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32321, 12 June 1970, Page 12

Subsidence Damages House

Residents in St Johns Street, Woolston, said yesterday they believed that the Christchurch Drainage Board was expecting trouble before drainage work started in the street.

Houses in the area have suffered structural damage; residents say that ground subsided after a length of sewer wjs installed. Two residents, who did not wish to be named, told a reporter of “The Press” yesterday that a photographer representing either the board or the contractors had called at homes in the street before work started and had taken photographs of them. “It looks like they were expecting trouble before they started,” one said. The board’s chief engineer (Mr P. J. McWilliam), de-

clined to comment on the residents' claim. He gave a prepared statement, refusing to go further because “the board has received some correspondence from solicitors and it would not be prudent at this stage to make any further comment” In his statement, Mr McWilliam said the board had recently installed a sewer in St John’s Street to provide adequate outfall capacity from existing sewers in the area, and also to provide an outfall at sufficient depth for adjoining areas that were being developed. The work had been done by contract he said. Houses in the street have been badly damaged by the ground subsiding. Cracks have appeared in most walls in the area affected, and many doors have had to be taken

off, trimmed down, and refitted to allow them to open and close.

At one house, belonging to Mr J. B. Dickey and Mrs Dickey, damage estimated at $5OO has been caused to concrete paths and a stormwater drain. Mrs M. L. Fisher’s chimney has moved lin out from the house, and has to be supported by heavy wooden beams. Another householder has had to fill a difference of about a foot of soil between the top of the concrete path and the level of the fallen lawn.

One of the worst damaged properties is the St Peter’s Presbyterian Church Manse, built a little more than a year ago. Gaps of up to three inches have appeared in the building, and the Christchurch Presbytery home ministry committee’s convenor (the Rev. A. A. Ross), said that claims for substantial damage would be lodged against the board and its contractors.

The area in which most damage has been reported is at the Linwood Avenue end of the work, where the ground is peaty. Near Ferry Road the earth is more of a clay nature, and few complaints were expressed there yesterday. A resident at the Ferry Road end of the street said there had been some difficulty with sticking doors when the work was in progress near the house, but with its completion “they came right.”