Horsham Forum - A Community Forum for Horsham and Southwater Residents and Businesses / Southwater Chat / Southwater Chat / Environmental Search / Latest Posts

RE: Environmental Search

DotNetWebs — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 10:37:38 GMT

Thanks for uploading you environment search. I am no expert but I personally wouldn't be concerned about the 'spoils' from the A24. It sounds to me like they just redistributed some of the earth they had to remove when building the bypass. On completion of the bypass the new estates in Southwater where built to 'fill in' the area between the A24 and the old village.

Regarding the brickworks, this was the main industry in Southwater until about the early eighties I believe (this was a bit before my time as we didn't move to Southwater until the mid 90's) The site of the old brickworks is now the Southwater County Park. I have no idea about any 'health issuses' but the wildlife is flourishing and people are happy to indulge in water sports on the lake etc.

If you want any more information about the Brickworks it might be worth contacting the Southwater Local History Group. I know they have given lectures on the subject in the past:

http://www.southwatersportsclub.co.uk/slhg/

Regards

RE: Environmental Search

benowens — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:47:26 GMT

Hello again,

I have been in contact with my estate agent who has informed that the area used to be mostly farmland hence the name Blakes Farm Road. There was an old brickworks around the area as well as the Industrial site which I’m not sure what they did? Maybe someone can shed some light on it??

I spoke to the council who stated that the Easteds Farm site which is where Cedars Drive/Winnet Way/Camelot Close resides was a landfill for spoils left from the building of the A24. The waste is inert (the term inert is used to describe something that is not chemically active) material and doesn't pose any risk. The council said that the Reeds Lane site waste or status is Unknown; Not very helpful eh?

I guess I just want reassurance as to whether there is a problem to health, prices in future with re-selling because of this? Can someone lend some convincing words why to move to Southwater and whether I should be concerned?

I assume that lots of other people get this come back on their environmental search when they go to purchase a house around that area. Are they not worried about it or have people never been made aware.

You can view my environment search in the below link

https://mailhost.kcsplc.com/downloads/environment/

Thanks for all the information so far.

RE: Environmental Search

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 07:05:59 GMT

Our postcode in Horsham reports risk of pollution from historical industry and risk of flooding. As a resident I know that we are at a low risk of flooding because of the excess water about six years ago. Even with the Arun bursting its banks we were still 0.5 Km away. As for the industry, this site was a school and, before that, used for hunting!

I think you need to look around locally and speak to the council to get better opinons for you potential buy!

RE: Environmental Search

DotNetWebs — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 19:55:56 GMT

Hi. Thank you for registering and welcome to the forums.

We live close by on the Blakes Farm Estate. If I put our post code into homecheck it comes up with a "High" warning for 'Landfill' and 'Historical Land use' The warnings are quite vague (it just states we are within 500 meters of an old landfill) and encourage you to pursue a more detailed report through a solicitor.

I would be interested to know more about this. Could it be related to the old brick factory for example? Hopefully someone from the Cedar Drive estate will respond. I haven't heard of anybody having difficulty selling their house for this reason and the house prices certainly don't reflect any problems.

Regards

Environmental Search

benowens — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 10:01:05 GMT

Hi there,

We are currently looking to purchase a property off the Cedar Drive development and everything was going through swimmingly until we received our environmental search back this weekend. The search has identified that the house has been built on a landfill site and that, therefore, this may have "significant implications for the property". Typically, this report came through on Saturday morning so we are not able to contact anyone to discuss these implications until Monday. Just wondering if anyone else had the same results when their environmental search came back and, if so, what you had found out about the landfill upon further investigations? Obviously, we're assuming that if the developers were able to successfully apply for planning permission and people have been living there quite happily since 1992 then it can't be too much of a problem. However, we'd really appreciate it if anyone who had the same result could give us some further information/advice!

THANKS!