Well, as everyone can see we have finally moved out of the old Church Farm site, and Ashford Homes are pressing on with their reserved matters application with Mendip.
Up at the new site we are getting on steadily, and I mean steadily, it is very frustrating when things take so long to happen. People say they will be in on a certain day or week to do a job or lots of jobs and as a result of them being delayed or just not being reliable, other people end up being held up behind them and so on down the line !
However we have progressed to the stage where we have all bar one of the planned buildings and areas built …not necessarily finished …but certainly erected. We have only got one Bund grassed and at the correct width and height ( along the field border with footpath on it ), it is still waiting to be planted with the appropriate trees and shrubs and this will not be done until all the bunds are completed so that the contractor can do everything at once. We will be concentrating on the bunds on the Parkgate lane side and the A361 side very soon, they are a little low and not wide enough at the moment so we have to get more material in them and sculpture them a lot more so that they don’t look so unnatural. We will then topsoil them as we go and then get them planted with trees and shrub. We do have an awful lot of top soil to move about and this will be a task on its own.
The same theory will apply to the white lining crew and signage people with regards to the road ways all around the site.
The site drainage and foul sewage systems are now complete all bar behind the workshop but that is being finished as I am writing this update. I will be one happy chap once all the holes are dug, the concrete laid and cables run into place, because that means we can get back to normal and run at full tilt again.
The drain across back field is now being covered over and has been a great success in coping with the sometimes torrential rain that we endured during the winter or should I call it the ‘Rainy season’. It really did come into its own with the extra offset manholes and much larger diameter pipe, which slowed the pace of the water and kept it (despite the vast quantities) at a manageable flow rate so that the culvert coped well with the water levels.
Finally the soak away on the playing field is already piped one end to take excess water away should that be necessary. It has been 90% dug and it did work very effectively in its current state but it will be even better once the inlet pipe has been installed, the clean stone tipped in. It will then be covered over with heaped topsoil and grassed over so that everything blends back into the landscape.
So lot’s has been done and we are on top of the remaining issues which is just as well as everything needs to be in place before the looming harvest. Never a dull moment!
Andy Fussell
