The Shelley Tasker Show

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Broadcasts live every Wednesday at 7:00p.m. uk time on Radio Soapbox: http://radiosoapbox.com

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Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Shelley Tasker Show coming live out of Radio Soapbox. Today's date is Wednesday, 3rd July 2024, and we have a compelling episode lined up for you. Our guest tonight is Mel Sheridan, who has been fighting a significant issue for over 16 years. Mel's story revolves around a persistent problem with the water supply in her hometown of Hayle, Cornwall.

Mel purchased her house in 2002 and initially found everything to be in order. However, by 2006, she noticed the road outside her house was sinking, causing water to pool and damage her property. Despite numerous calls to the council and the water board, the issue was ignored for years, leading to severe structural damage to her home.

In 2009, Southwest Water began a pipe-bursting operation near her house, which exacerbated the problem. Mel describes the ordeal of dealing with both the council and the water board, who continuously passed the responsibility back and forth. Her house began to show significant signs of damage, including cracks and windows that wouldn't shut.

Mel's story highlights the bureaucratic nightmare she faced, including being told by her insurance company that her house was not insured due to a culvert running under her property. Despite her relentless efforts, including contacting local MPs and environmental agencies, the issue remains unresolved.

Mel's fight is not just about her home but also about the broader implications for the town of Hayle. She raises concerns about the integrity of the water supply and the potential health risks for residents. Her story is a powerful testament to the challenges of dealing with large bureaucratic entities and the impact on individuals' lives.

[00:00:56] Unknown:

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Shelley Tasker Show coming live out of Radio Soapbox dotcom. It's good to have your company.   Today's guest no. Not the guest yet. Sorry. Today's date   is Wednesday, 3rd July 2024.   And, yes, it's a lovely cloudy day as per usual in Cornwall.   Anyway, moving on. We've got a great guest lined up tonight. This woman has been,   fighting this for over 16 years. I first spoke to her about this problem 4 years ago, and, anyway, she's been fighting hard.   She's gonna be telling us our story and what's been happening in where she lives in Haile, and it's all to do with the water supply and stuff. So good evening, Mel. Mel Shelley, everybody. Hi, Shelley. How are you doing?   You okay?  

Yeah. I'm okay. Yeah. Okay. Right. So so you've been waiting for this. So we need to go right back to the beginning. Tell us at the start, what happened?  

[00:01:55] Unknown:

So   for the listeners, I purchased my house in 2002.   I had all the normal surveys that everyone has, and I even had a mining search because I knew about the historical   area of all the sort of stuff that had gone on before.   And I had a radon search,   and it was all fine. Everything was lovely.   So in 2003,   unfortunately, my partner and I separated after 13 years.   And, I was   in Cornwall away from my family.   I originally come from walking on tens in Surrey,   and I've moved to Cornwall because,   my ex partner's family is from here. We want to bring my son up in Cornwall.   So,   I was here with no family around me at all. So I decided that I'd go to college and   just re educate myself and do what I always wanted to do, which was my art and teaching. So I started college in Campbell in 2003   on a sort of access to Foundation Art course,   a year course, which I absolutely loved.  

And,   I sort of got the bug for it, really. So I carried on and just went on and did an HND in fine art and textiles. That was 2 more years.   And I was eventually in college for 7 solid years, and I was working as well. And I was bringing my son up and renovating this house.   And everything was great.   It was about   2, 006,   2000 the end of 2, 006,   I noticed the road outside.   Where I   live Scott will explain it. Where I live, I live on the end terrace.   And next to the literally, next to my house is a lane, like a road. It's a road, and cars go down it and trucks and stuff.   And I noticed it was sinking.  

My house was wasn't affected, but I could see it was sinking. So in the winter,   when it was heavy rain, it would pool water   in the puddle there. And then the cars and the trucks would drive through and all the water would go up my wall. And so I was getting salting on my inside wall on the roadside.   Right.   So I'm being quite anal and I've been OCD with my art stuff. I can't   irritating me.   So it was only, like, once a year I'd ring them. Twice a year, I'd phoned them. I've got all this. I've got all the evidence of this. I've got all the SARs,   everything.  

And I rang both the council and the water board,   and they both just kept sort of passing me back to the other person.   Right. I was thinking this is weird, you know. This is this is in the road. This is, surely you've got to come out and sort this out. So I'd get the occasional callback, and then they'd say they were coming to have a look.   And,   I'd take the day off college. This is all evidenced. I'd come home from college and be hanging around waiting for someone to turn up.   Then someone would invariably turn up   some guy with no maps, nothing, with a crowbar,   and just go, oh, what is it you're wanting me to look at? And I'm like, I don't know. I don't know.  

It's your job. I don't know. Your road is sinking.   Anyway, so   this went on for about another 2 years.   So by the time it got to the end of December 2, 008,   the right hand corner, which is next to the road, was starting to show signs of, like, hairline cracks   coming through, like stress cracks, and I was thinking, I'm sure it's to do with that road outside.   So   I carried on ringing the council, carried on ringing the water board.   Nothing got done.   And then in January   2009, myself and a couple of the residents, which still got copies of, we've got a letter through from Southwest Water,   stating that they were gonna be bringing the sparkle back   and replacing all the old   cast iron networks   that are over a 100 years old with   new sleeving.  

Okay?   So   I didn't think anything of it.   And,   so they sort of said they would start on the 27th   January for the next few months. I didn't know when it was gonna happen at the time.   And   they   they pipe burst. And for listeners who don't know what pipe bursting is, it's like you're hammerjacking   pneumatically   smashing through   old cast iron and re sleeving as you go. It's quite a violent act.   You're not supposed to do it within 8 meters of a building   without the homeowner or the builders the person that owns the building's consent.   Okay? So when I get told they're replacing the pipes, I'm I'm clueless. I don't know what they're doing or how they're doing it or anything. Did you assume that this this was to do with the problem of the road?  

Well, I don't know. I mean, they're just wanting to ignore on the problem in the road. This was something completely new that they were doing. I didn't know if it was responding to my calls because I didn't get any feedback or anyone was getting back to me. So and you've gotta remember, Shelley, that my house was absolutely fine. I just had a hairline quack. I'm just getting on with my life, and I just think that these things are going on in the road. So   I was in on the day when they pipe burst,   and my ornaments were bouncing off the shelves. And I'm thinking, oh, that sounds like it's that sounds like it's really near. And it's like a grinding, like a really low grinding noise coming   through. It felt like it was vibrating through the house.  

And I rang them up. That's all on the SARs.   And within a week of this happening, there was water coming up all down the road in the road where I am. There's all this water coming up the sides of the road. And other people have rung as well and said there's problems.   So   that was that. And all of a sudden, I could see that the the crack in the corner was getting wider and wider by the week.   So I was hammering the council to come out and do something.   This is Cormac. This is, Mike Peters, Cornwall Highways.   And eventually, under duress, they came out in I think it was June   June. I think it was the end of June. I've got all stuff here. I can go back over the exact days and stuff.  

They came out and dug a trial hole   in the road outside,   and found running water   under their road. So you gotta remember at this point, I'm thinking this is all the road, nothing to do with me. I'm just warning them what's going on because I was the nearest house to have the impact from it. Right. And,   they couldn't see where the water was coming from. It was a lot of water. This is a lot of water.   And they said, we can't see where the water's coming from, so we're gonna have to get a pump.   And we're gonna have to use a suction pump just to see where the direction of the water's coming from.   So you're gonna have to hold on. And I was thinking, oh my god. This is night. When are you coming back? And they this was a Thursday, and they said, well, we're back next week with the pump. And I'm at the time thinking, oh my god. You're leaving that pouring for 4 days.  

Anyway, they went off, and they never returned for 2 years   9 months.  

[00:08:49] Unknown:

Oh, gosh.  

[00:08:51] Unknown:

But they were aware that there was an issue because, obviously, by October,   I put a self silence claim in because my house was starting to show signs of real movement.   The windows on the far right corner where the road is, I couldn't shut them. They were getting twisted. I couldn't shut the windows, which was really irritating.   And so I put my self silence claim in in October, I think it was, 2009.   And   the insurance company   wrote to both the council and the water board and said, look, you know, you need to deal with this outside because this is impacting on our clients' home and see that this is an issue from the road.   Southwest Water sort of did a sort of slippery swerve, and we're trying to sort of pass it back to the council.  

And the Mike Peters at Cornwall   Council was in correspondence with my insurance company,   and this was in October 2009.   And he wrote to them in March 2010 and apologized for the delay   in not getting back to them, and he would investigate it.   He would investigate the road. And I'm thinking,   you must know what's under the road. Surely, you must be able to just produce maps of what's there. Surely, you must know.   But didn't think any more of it and just got on with my life and just thought, well, this, you know, that's getting sorted. I'm getting on with my life. They're getting the roads sorted, and it's gonna sort my house out.   This went on for about another 8 months. The house was getting more and more opening up, and the insurance company were driving down from Southampton   in their nice Mercedes   and doing little sort of crack checks. They measured the crack to see if the movement was going on, and it was still moving. And I'm getting exasperated thinking, right, you know, what's going on?  

And so I was hammering the insurance company saying, look, you need to get this sorted. And they were hammering me back saying, look, this is your house. This is your responsibility.   We can't deal with it because it's not under your house. It's over there in the road. So we have to try and get the council and the water board to do the investigations   before we can address,   you know, correction and and fixing your house with cosmetic repairs. We can't do that until   this stuff in the road is stopped.   So that was another year.   And then   in   2010,   I had a visit from my insurance lady,   1 of the groomers. I called them groomers. I had 12 of those. I've had 100 of groomers.  

She came round   in a lovely Prada suit and a Mercedes,   and she said, I'm sorry to tell you, miss Sheridan, that you're not insured.   The council has written to us and told us that you have a culvert   under your property.  

[00:11:31] Unknown:

You have a what? And I'm not  

[00:11:32] Unknown:

what's a culvert?   And she said, gingling.   Great customer service. Yeah. Google it. So   I Googled Colbert, and I thought, what the hell? Why would I have that under my house? What what the hell's a Colbert?   And so for listeners who don't know, a Colbert   is like a long   imagine a sort of square box garage. So it's probably about   8 foot wide   by 6 foot deep,   and it carries   water systems.   So surface water systems, river, streams, leaves, whatever, all those things. And the 1 that runs outside my building   is huge. It runs from the mill pond, and it goes all the way down right down to the viaduct,   which is interesting because where it runs under   is the exact pier that is sinking   on the hail viaduct.  

Okay? So that's the that's the that's the culvert.   So I only know this now in hindsight where the COVID is.   So I was left   literally   on my own with my son in the house,   with the house falling down around me, and I'm having to work out why my house is falling down.   Yeah.   So,   I just ended up ringing up Mike Peters, the Cormac Highways guy because everyone I've spoken to have said it's a highways issue clearly,   and it's down to highways to sort out Southwest Waters. You know, get them to come out and do their infrastructure.   So I've got all the calls.  

It's quite funny because on the actual SARs, quite a few of the calls have been obfuscated.   But unfortunately for them, I've still got all my phone bills. I've got every single call I've ever made Yeah. Since the beginning of time. So,   they this went on for 3 years, and I've just literally graduated.   I've got all the testimonies of this. My agent, my art agent, Blessa, she she came to the courts with me for the council tax. She's done all those statements as well.   I was flying. My artwork was selling really well. I was going to the affordable art fairs in London.   I had a job at the printmakers I loved in St. Ives,   and I was, doing my cert ed and teaching stuff. And I was running the printmaking unit at Cambourne College.  

And I was just arrived, you know, my house is finished. I've been renovated.   I promised my son that I would be off in the holidays and that we'd have some money and we could, you know, start living our lives and going on holiday and stuff.   And he went through years of me just studying, you know, sitting in the attic studying for years and sticking another video on for him. He's no child. I've got no relatives around me at all.   And,   yeah, I just literally, I couldn't continue with working with trying to sort out why my house was falling down. And I was ringing up departments on my lunch break at work, and they're all on their lunch breaks. So you just I just wasn't getting anywhere. And it was just such a it felt like such a complicated story because people were sort of saying to me, well, why are you ringing us about the road outside? And I'm like, so basically,   I was just literally ringing up the council and the water board meeting every day, and that you've got to sort this out. You know? And what sort of state is your house in now?  

Oh, Melmy, just had water pouring down. I had, like, cracks where the water were coming because I couldn't shut the windows. Right. So they had to be they had to get to be tied.   The 1 in my bedroom,   in the the side room opposite the road next to the road, you had to tie it with string and then run it across the room and tie it to the doorknob   to hold it in. Because every time it was windy, it would pull suction would pull it right out. And there's those windows that open right Yeah. Yeah. Turns onto it out. You know?   And   I could hear it, and my son was freaking out. He was he was getting really scared sleeping upstairs because we could hear it creaking.  

And And I'm thinking that any any moment your house is gonna fall down on you. Yeah. It's just gonna fall down, and I don't I can't do anything about it. And at this time, none of my neighbors were even aware of this story because at the time, I just thought it was me. Now this is happening to me. I'm just doing my neighbors. And luckily for my neighbors, this was happening in the road outside the end of the terrace. So it wasn't really impacting on any other building part of mine. So it's my story. It was my problem. Mhmm. And then I hammered the environmental agency.   I rang them up,   and I was saying, you know, someone must have some maps of what this is, what this call is, what, you know, what it's doing and all this sort of stuff. And it was like being in, do you remember that film, Rosemary's Baby?  

I don't know. Do you remember? No. I don't know. Oh, you're not seeing it. I if listeners,   they they probably had some people that would be laughing because it literally was like that. It's like everyone didn't have any clue of what was what was happening or what was under the road or it was just so Yeah. And you'll be Amateur. Everywhere. Every time you go to someone, they're sending you on to somebody else. It's just going around the houses. So I just eventually hammered them all every single day on a redial all throughout the day and my insurance company   until they all came out together,   which would never have been my job.  

You know, my job as being an artist and being at college, it was my Peters' job to do that. Not me, but I did it for him.   They've been paid, by the way.   And,   they all came out and they dug the road up,   and there it was. They found the same pipe that they'd left pouring for 2 years 9 months,   and,   they weren't gonna touch it. Nobody got both I mean, it was my people were going, but it's not our infrastructure. And the instruction engineers   that I had   ended up fighting my insurance companies because it turned out that's another story. We'll have to do another 1 about the insurance companies. I mean, it's just unreal. So,   they said, you're gonna have to temporarily   put reknuckle it. You're gonna have to reknuckle it because we can't stop the movement in the house until you reknuckle this pipe in the road. So nothing's happened under my house. This is all in the road. This has been spilling for what? Over 2 years  

[00:17:19] Unknown:

ongoing? 2 years 9 months. Yeah. And how much water do you think, like  

[00:17:24] Unknown:

well, according to these things that bless her. Georgina Schofield, wonderful woman. She's just passed away, sadly. Really lovely woman. She was really helping me, and she was giving me a lots of historical documents and stuff. So if if it is what they're saying it could be,   1, 375   gallons per minute.  

[00:17:44] Unknown:

We got to, yeah, all of those gallons a minute, so I can't even work that out how many that is over the last few years. It's constant. It's pouring 24 hours, 7 days a week. That's a hell of a lot of water. Yeah.  

[00:17:55] Unknown:

So they put they re knuckled it temporarily.   Okay?   And you've also got to remember that in 2009   when they came out and did a trial hold, they only shingled it back   because they were gonna come back with a pump, and they didn't come back for 2 years 9 months. So in that time, all the cars and trucks were driving over that compressed area, which had already been softened by them digging the road up. So it's like it just came out and just made it worse   and worse and worse. It was just like and I couldn't it was just like, there's a book called The Confederacy of Dunces   by,   I think his name's Kenneth Kennedy Toole. And that's what it's like. It was like, it's a bunch of GIMPs. These people are just don't know what they're doing. So I,   they found this pipe. They've they've knuckled it temporarily,   which meant that my house could now get sorted. We thought that was the cause of the problem. That's what we thought was the cause of the problem.  

But   when my engineer, who is brilliant,   m and a associates, I mean, amazing amazing people,   they said, look. We're gonna have to build a plinth over this pipe, like a lintel over the pipe   to protect the house from sinking further onto the pipe.   So in the meantime,   they   while they were doing it, they slung the suction pump down the surface water drain,   which is about 6 foot further back down the road,   and all of a sudden we're standing there and we've got all this water coming out in the middle, and we're like, where's the water coming from? Why is the water coming out   here   if we just put this water down the surface water drain? Okay?  

So my engineer said we'd have to dig this bit of the road up as well. And by this time, it was really frail because the whole side   was subsided.   And by digging out the foundations, you're making it worse. So   they dug   another hole.   And in the meantime, Southwest Water   have been out   and said   that they put CCTV   cameras down,   and they waited till they came out when I was away. So my friend stayed at the house, and I said, make sure you get the name   and surname of the person that comes out, and he did.   And they said they'd put CCTV   cameras down there,   sewer, and it was all fine   and to backfill the road.  

So a week later, we've got evidence of all of this. Everything I'm saying, I can prove.   A week later,   the engineers   put their camera down the sewer, and they can see a dirty, great, big gap   about 8 8 inches. Just a gap.   Because the road was already half dug up, there was light coming through, and you thought, well, there's definitely something there.   So they dug it up, we got it all filmed while we were doing it, so there's no way that, you know,   it's all there.   And there's an open ended sewer   to a foot away from the side of the house as well, just open ended.   So all the water   from the surface water from the surface water drain previously   also ran through   that because they're called section 24   sewers.  

And if there's anyone that listens to this from surface against sewage,   this is a big question I want to ask you.   Why is no 1 asking why   and how   does the sewage enter in   sea. These are section 24 sewers. So what happens is they are jointly owned. Little bits of it are jointly owned by the council.   The council and the surface water drains are responsible for them, and the water board are responsible for the sewers.   But when you have section 24,   you've got the surface water,   the rainfall,   and all the water, gray water coming from the houses,   foul   sewage, everything, it's all coming through the same network.  

So that had been pouring,   must have been pouring next to my house   for years.   So but when I bought my house, the road was completely flat. It was fine. My house was fine for 8 years. There was no   it it was a fact that that was doing the damage on the road, and the surface the open ended sewers were causing the road to sink.   And when Southwest Water came along and did the pipe bursting,   they smashed through the east culvert outside the house here, and there was a pipe coming out from this terrace   crossing right through. I've got the key report. There's no way they could not have hit it.   The vibrations of that hammerjacking would have cracked the other pipe,   and that's when they cracked through the east culverts   and over   they over pumped past where they're meant to   go, and they had to put a t junction on the pipe bursting. So I know that they knew that they've done something   because they were out there for months with it. Well, I think what they're doing out there. They keep coming out and doing something. They knew what they've done. Yeah. Yeah. So,   so basically, it's,   you know, the road sank because of the open end of sewers and eventually would would have taken my house but not so rapidly.  

And the pipe burst,   the BIFA.   So Cornwall Council subcontract   the waste   contracts down these lanes. They're not meant to have these sized trucks. It's ridiculous. They're little side lanes. You know? They're not main roads or anything.   And they've got a sign up on the entrance to where I live,   saying 3 ton.   3 ton weight restriction,   unless of access or whatever.   And I've always wondered what that 3 ton sign was for, and it's in hindsight we know is because there's culverts   running all along that road,   you know, the chambers.   Bearing in mind that Southwest water of pipe burst through it and smashed it up   in 2009,   but no one's been back to fix it since. No one's done anything to it. So every time the trucks come along and that's another thing. But while while my house was sinking   and I was ringing the council, they were still sending the 32 ton trucks down the road. Right. Making it worse. Making it worse and worse and worse. And they, like, literally would pull up. This is on a Tuesday in those days. It's Thursdays now, but they pull up literally over where it was sinking.  

Just pull up with the engine running.   And so I end up being painted as this lunatic because I'm going out in my pajamas going, can you move? You know what I mean? Can you move away? My house is going to fall down. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and Biffa, done that, but all the subject from Biffa as well, ringing them as well.   So, so, basically, we found all this stuff,   and we thought that was it.   And it was a year of my insurance company rights since both the council and the water board and saying, look, you know, council, you are responsible for the delays.   Because if you'd have come out and you knew where everything was,   miss Sheraton's house wouldn't have fallen down because you'd have just fixed the pipe that was making the road sink, you know, and that would have been it. Get on with my life. Nothing to do with me. And the water bottle responsible for the fact that they had open ended sewers there, and they didn't do any CCTV, obviously.  

And they didn't investigate anything, and they pipe burst through a network and plowed through the east coast a foot away from my house   when it's supposed to be 8 meters   a foot away.   So they both denied responsibility.   They both behaved like children. If anyone thinks that Cornwall Council is   a service,   you're deluded.   Seriously, you're deluded.   They're literally the people who are working on the ground, they're brilliant. All the workers, the diggers, the guys, the trades no. The guys are doing the dirty work. They are brilliant. They've been brilliant the whole way through. They know the story. They know what's they've done to me.   And,   so it's a year I have to wait for them to do the underpinning. And by that time, my my conveyance my structural guys were hammering the insurance company because they're the same. They don't wanna pay out.  

They were saying, oh, no. No. This is cosmetic repair. And they were like, no. No. We're the top structural engineers in Cornwall, and We're telling you that because you've left it so long, it's all been left for so long, it's gonna be a £158, 000   underpinning job.   It's not gonna be a cosmetic  

[00:25:54] Unknown:

repair. No. It's almost like a rebuild, I should imagine.   Sorry?  

[00:25:58] Unknown:

Almost like a rebuild, I should imagine. Yeah. I mean, you gotta remember this. Only that side of the house is quite a big house, and it's got 2 sides of the house. So this side of the house, so I'm fine. It's over that side. So, that was a big wrangles and stuff. And both the council and the water board just blamed each other and passed the buck. Just kept doing it to the point where I had to hammer my insurance company.   And the reason why I got my way was because it was becoming a public   menace.   I live near a school where little school children come round and do a little walk, and I just would sit there thinking, oh my god. If this falls on them, you know, they're not gonna be able to claim anything against me because   it's I I I can't solve this. I can't do anything about what's happening in the road. All I can do is is, you know so we thought that was it.  

They came out. They fixed the open ended sewers.   The the house got a little lintel over it. My house got Venice now. It's got a little lintel over it, and we thought that was it.   Unbeknownst to me, the pipe that they found in the road,   which they've traced they had to trace it back to see where the water was coming from,   It goes right through my property.   Okay?   It goes right through my property.   And on the day when we found it, the engineers   went round the blocks of this area,   and they put a cat and Jenny   on a it's like a communal   Victorian   standpipe   that's up the other end of this terrace. It's up the other end. It's at the back. It's sort of in the lane sort of thing. It doesn't belong to anyone. It's just there, and it's in the lane. They put the Cat and Jenny sonar on it   and walked through the back alleyway here,   and the signal didn't break   from the pipe in the road   to that Victorian standpipe.  

Didn't break. So we knew that it was connected   to the Victorian   old standpipe systems.   As if we're talking, you know, this is old. Really old.   So,   and unfortunately,   how it works in its life, you know, the people who live near that all got very guarded and were, like, probably told a bunch of lies and that, you know, I was holding them responsible because it was near their land. That's something to do with them. That's not the source of where the water's coming from. That's just an apparatus   feature that would have been there as part of the systems that were running for the people. And there was 1 at the other end of another terrace here as well, so it's all historical stuff.   So, I just thought that was it and I was fine.  

And then   this is when I got the the neighbors involved. I had to because by that time,   this is the letter. I'll read this very quickly. It's very short.   So in 2012,   on the 31st May, I get a email through from my insurance people   who are agreeing yeah. They're agreeing that the house needs underpinning.   They're trying to chase the 2 parties that caused it,   and they're not getting anywhere. But the house will be underpinned because it's now dangerous to the public. So that's all done. I get this email. Dear miss Sheridan, I referred to our telephone conversation this morning. I have discussed your concerns with Doug McIlroy   at g h a GHG Loss Adjusters   and also with the insurance   underwriters.  

Whilst they have every sympathy with you, I regret to advise you that since the water pipe,   the 1 that they traced back through my house, they didn't do that till till 5 years later, but it was coming up in my house. It's not your responsibility   to maintain,   and it is not covered under the terms of your Bell household   policy.   I note that you have discussed this subject with pipe with your neighbors,   and you have consulted your local MP. I trust that this will increase the pressure   on southwest water to accept responsibility   for the pipe   and take immediate steps to resolve the problem   with the possibility of tracing the pipe back to source   to divert,   reroute   it away from all the properties affected.  

So that's when I had to get my neighbors involved because it was obviously coming through from somewhere, but it wasn't starting in my front room and going it wasn't a where does it come from? So   that's when I had to get my neighbors involved. And unfortunately, you get 2 types of people in the world who get fight and flights.   And a lot of people just go into, like, oh, god. No. You know what I mean? Oh, god. No. Not interested. Don't worry about it. Interested, wouldn't you, really? Yeah. I mean, I couldn't believe my next door neighbor wasn't interested.   I thought, you know, I've shared the same roof as you. We've got the same adjoining wall, which is   a lot of water. And the neighbors that have got involved   have been brilliant because they've been and they saw the pipe unknuckled in the road. They saw the amount of water pouring through it. And you've got to remember that over the next 8 years after   my house is underpinned,   the council have dug that road up 5 times.  

Okay?   And every time they dig it up, they're undermining my foundations, and this pipe is really old.   The section where it got underpinned   is great. They've resleeved it, all brand new, from halfway across the road   right through to halfway through my house. Because like all insurance companies, they're not gonna dig up the other side of your house if the other side of your house hasn't been affected. They'll only do what is affected.   So I've looked at this old pipe,   which predates the house. The house is 18/70.   It's cast iron.  

It's 4 inch.   So it's a big cast iron 4 inch,   corroded, rusty. I mean, gone. It's like some parts of it are tiny inside.   But it's carrying this body of water all the time.   Every time that's been unknuckled in the road, doesn't matter what season,   October, April, June, it's running at the same flow all the time.   Doesn't stop.   We've had eels come through. We've had 1 eel come through at 1 point.  

[00:31:45] Unknown:

You had what? Sorry.  

[00:31:46] Unknown:

An eel.   An eel? Came through it. Yeah. An eel came through it. So Oh my gosh. I'm now in the middle and have been and still are to this day in a proxy war between council and the water board over the future liability   of the subterranean networks of hail.   I have been going to everywhere   for 12 years. I've written to everybody. I've gone to the Consumer Council for water. I've got all their audios,   and the people there, they're going, yeah. We can see that they've we can see that the South West Water have lied, but unfortunately, we have no government authority to hold them to account.   Right. Well, what's the point of you? You know, what's the point? What's the point of the consumer council?  

I went so basically, this went on with me and Mike Peters.   We're going, you know, you've got to come clean, Mike. You left that pouring for 2 years 9 months, and he kept promising me on the phone that he'd do something about it. So I was asked to put a claim in   for all my losses of earnings and the stress in 2012.   But my fight now was about this pipe being insured, you know, to get conversation.   It's not used to me. I just want this pipe insured so that I can, if I need to sell the house, I I don't have to lie.   The council actually wrote to my insurance company and said, we have no reasons for miss Sheridan. We no. She if she wants to, she can block it off. And I'm like, are you mental?  

How can you block off a flowing,   running water course like that when you don't even know where it's coming from? It's old. If I do that, it's gonna build up pressure under my neighbors' houses, God knows where, and it's gonna cause their houses to subside.   So they gave me an opportunity to do what a lot of people have done in this town,   is keep my mouth shut and send my turkey on.   It's I've got testimonies   that it's going on in this town. There's been people, and and you can see why they just left themselves because   I found out so much more than just this network.  

There are anomalies   all over hail.   There is now in the technical meetings with the council.   Never before in history,   Southwest Water were bringing lawyers to the technical meetings about this guy.   That's never happened before. Why?   Because it isn't about just some networks. It's about what the water is that's going through those networks.   So   this has been my argument for the last 12 years. If you are willingly   needing these issues   to happen to somebody else,   The water board don't have any maps.   They don't have any maps of anything.   The culvert that the council told my insurers was under my house turns out to   be over there,   10 foot away outside my house. And it's not just over there. It's 500 meters long.  

But when I went to a meeting in the Cornwall, Howlettown Council in November,   the new guy who's taken over at Cormac had never even seen the map before. I'm like, well, if you've not seen the map before, that means you're not clearing it out. That means you're not maintaining it. And if the water board didn't even know   that they had sewers in that road,   they didn't even discover   rider sewers,   which are ones that run through all the properties.   They didn't even know they existed until October   2016.   These houses were built in 18/70.  

[00:35:00] Unknown:

Right. So  

[00:35:01] Unknown:

there are dual feeds in hail. In fact, there's dual feeds, and they're called the ghost pipes of hail.   And what's happened   is a lot of people   are on the old, unmetered   private supplies.   And because people in this town are working class, which is working class people, they're drinking it.   They're drinking that water.   And   if it's private supplies, they're they are the council's responsibility.   And if they're mains, they're southwest waters. So are you saying that the people of Haile are drinking, like, sewage water as well? I don't know what they're drinking, and I don't think   the the council of the world will be able to tell them either   because I've had so many testimonies of people who've had strange   water. They've asked for a test,   they come out and they do a test, and then they never hear from Southwest Water again. And when they ring them up, they go, oh, no. It's fine. We didn't send you the results because it's fine.  

So I don't trust Southwest Water. They lie. And I can prove both the council and the water board have   lied continuously,   deliberately,   misunderstanding   the timeline and the stories. They've done it again. They did it again to Halton Council in in November.   They spent sent a guy out from Southwest Water to deal with these issues that I've said about.   Because   in the letters that I've got from Kenon,   they've lied to Kenon as well. Southwest Water would lie to Kenon.   There's the act I'm the drinking water inspectorate.   I've got that as well. And he says drinking water inspectorate,   ask them,   do you know this is serving anybody?  

And their answer is, I've got this on paper,   we don't know.   They don't know.   So the council and the water board are in on this cover up, and it is a cover up, and people go, oh, you shouldn't call it a cover up. It is a cover up.   So if it's the council's private supplies, they're supposed to tell the homeowners I'm on private supplies,   and they don't pay Southwest Water. And the council are liable to come and check for contamination,   I think it's every 5 years or something. And if it's a commercial, you know, customer thing with, you know, cafe, it's 1 and a half, I think.   So you can understand that   there's no maps.  

Cornwall Council did not pass the maps over   to Southwest Water when Southwest Water took over Devon and Cornwall.   And I can prove that because in the letters, they've actually said to Pennon, we can't be responsible for the subsidence because Cornwall Council haven't given us the maps.   So the council haven't got any maps. The water board haven't got any maps. And there'll be people listening into this if it ever gets on to anything on Hale's regional page. There'll be people that will recognize what I'm saying,   And I know this because I've got their statements, and I've kept them anonymous, and I've kept their addresses anonymous because this is what's happening. People are too scared to put their head above the parapet.  

I sacrificed everything for this because this is malfeasance   on a scale that's just so abhorrent.   It's it's your health and assets. It's everything you work for. And the people in this town are the same as me. We're working class.   I spent 8 years, I'm not exaggerating,   8 years paying back my solicitors   from 2015   for taking   Southwest Water to task   over their open ended sewers   and pipe bursting in Cornwall Councils Road outside my building.   Nothing happened under my house. Nothing.   All from outside and the impact of their negligence on this. So  

[00:38:31] Unknown:

when people see me in the town, they think, oh, that's Mel. She's so intense, and she's a pipe lady. You know? She's a pipe lady. You do know your you know your stuff, Mel. I'll give you that. You've  

[00:38:40] Unknown:

you've After 13 years Yeah. Looking into this, I can tell you where every drain is, every pipe is because   people are gonna lose everything in this town. There are there there's people literally who've got dual feeds. There's people who don't have been told. I mean, I've got 1 statement in this this guy, and it's comedy gold. I mean, it's it's so funny. He said, you know, his wife went away, and he thought he'd do the garden while she was out. So he's turned the stock cock off in the guard on the garden, was walking his car. And all of a sudden, the ground from underneath him was rising up. He was like, oh my god. What's happening? Like a horror fan. And he rammed Southwest Water. They went, no. Nothing to do with us. I said, default. Nothing to do with us. And they can't be held accountable because there's no maps. But unfortunately for them,   some people in these streets now I've been banging on doors for years   because I was trying to get this information.  

We found some maps. We found some maps   that are the networks to this area,   and they are the networks to this area, but Southwest Water was saying they're not.   And then we've got con 20 nines, and   I've got a friend that I spoke to earlier. He said, don't mention the con 20 nines, but the con 29 is crucial to the listeners   because a con 29, big c, o n,   29   is your legal document that shows where your water   enters the boundary of your property   and where your sewers are. Because, obviously, if you're doing you know, if you have a leak, how are you gonna know how to fix it? Yeah. In the area where I am, we've got them all over the place. Some of them are blank.   Some of them have got children's crayon drawings going through the maps.  

Some of them have got,   pipes in 1 lane, and then the next year, someone else has got the same same area, and the pipes disappeared, and it's now southwest waters. And then the following year, it's 4 inch cast iron unknown.   They haven't got a clue. They haven't got a clue. And because this stuff is literally failing,   cast iron networks have 60 year lifespan.   They're coming up to a 180.   They're so frail. I've got testimonies of people finding them, finding water coming up to their floors,   finding a concrete pad. So the previous buyers obviously come across it and thought, oh, I'll concrete that over and just sell it. And they found it, and it's so old. It's disintegrated.   It's just completely disintegrated, and there's just pools of water under people's houses. So all these people are keeping quiet because they don't know how to deal with it because they've been told that it's not anybody's.  

And I'm really angry, Shelley, because this town is gorgeous.   I love hail. It is. And I even my enemies I love. You know, even the other people have been pissed off at me because of this. I can understand why people are doing that, but   I've had love day Jenkins, Melbourne, Kernel counselor, and she said to me, you're the canary in the coal mine now, but   no 1 wants to sound the alarm because we don't want to blight the town. I'm like, okay.   People are drinking this stuff.   You know what I mean? But they're drinking it. This is mental. It's like,   I've got photographs   of raw sewer pipes   with lead live water pipes running through the sewer pipe.  

They're not on the maps. Yeah. Yeah.   So this is a disaster, and so   I now understand why it happened to me. Because when I was going to held town council back in 2, 012,   me and some of my neighbors have been going to see George Eustace   for 12 solid years.   George useless, I like to call him. Anne Widdicombe's been involved. I've met with Anne Widdicom.   This is not even a political thing. This is not about politics. This is about   if you're so proud of the heritage of hell, then then save it. Don't just ruin everything. And how how is that gonna give hail a bad name? Surely, it's just the council and the water.   And so for me, it's always been when I've gone to the press or I've been on the BBC Spotlight News,   I've never said it goes it goes through my house. It goes up. We know where it goes. There's another neighbor who we know. We know what it is, and we know where it runs through.  

And it is it's a cultivated stream,   but if in its day,   the water supplies to these areas   pre chlorination   and Southwest water.   And unfortunately,   Southwest Water know that in 2006,   before all this story started,   I asked for a meter.   Okay?   They were here for a week, Shelley. My mom was staying. It was she was getting really cross because the door was left open and it was getting cold. And she's going, what do you mean they don't know where the supply is? I said, they can't find my supply.   So they basically   pulled me through a new feed from next door   because they didn't have any maps, and they didn't know where anything was. But the stopcock for this terrace,   the neighbor that won,   he used that stopcock   30 years ago to isolate his feed in his house. And Southwest Water saying it's not their infrastructure,   and it's had the key taken off it so you can't turn it on or off. Right. Am I losing my house?  

I'm gonna be bankrupt in 2 years and walk away and be homeless because someone doesn't wanna come back   and and turn a stopcock off.   It's a 4 foot key. It's a it's a full 5 foot key, same debt as these 5. So But But I'm assuming if they if they turn liability of payer, basically.  

[00:43:48] Unknown:

If they turn that stop tap off then, is that gonna stop the water supply for  

[00:43:53] Unknown:

everybody next to you and yourself? Well, this is the thing. I think that's that's something they're really scared of. And what the viewers the listeners have got on Stan is that   I stopped paying Southwest Water on the day that we found all this stuff in the road,   and they didn't even turn around and apologize to me.   I I said to them, I'm not paying you. I'm not paying you. I'm not paying you   a a large amount of my bill with sewage. I was so fair. I separate my water   from my sewage, and I said, right. I want   back all my sewage charges that I've paid you since I bought this property   because those open ended sewers in the road there have been that bad before I bought the house. So I want my £2, 400   back, please.  

And they said, no.   This is the level of what Southwest Water would do.   And what they do is they send groomers. I mean, it's so complicated story, but I've had I mean, I've been in meetings at the Hilton Hotel in London with the top loss adjuster   for Southwest Water   in the Hilton   Hotel having a meeting, a settlement meeting.   And we were discussing all these different things. And I had a friend that came to help me because she knew about law. She had a meeting with them and never heard of it. But if we get scared off, warned off, or paid off.   And   I know now why, because whoever takes responsibility for these networks, because it's not just under my house, clearly. Because if it was just under my house, I could have dealt with it. I dug the floor up. I'm quite a practical person. I've got builders, friends, and I know we need to just dug it up. I can't cap it off because to me, that's morally wrong.  

Because someone else has unhappiness,   you're just gonna go, right. That's, you know, that's your problem.   It's not even technically possible because it's so old and frail. So if you start fiddling around a bit here, it's gonna impact my next door neighbor.   And they're still saying it's uninsurable.   So if it's uninsurable, that means that the whole of hail have got these running threats everywhere that no 1 really knows and cares about. They just think I was that mad woman until it happens to them. And they're gonna go through the same hell as me, and I've been told so many times, if you're carrying like this in Sheridan, you won't get paid.   I've never I've never received a penny   from either the ward or the council.  

And in fact, the council have behaved worse than the board board. I've got to say it. They have. Because   I wrote to officer 151   in 2016   after Mike Peters   had sent me off around the houses to all these different   claim departments.   And I'm saying to Mike, that's great. You still need to sort this pipe out   because, you know, this is a a a communal thing. This isn't just my house.   I got sent off to, this 1 and this is funny. I got sent off to 1 insurance company that said, I've got this in writing.   I can prove this.   Your house fell down, miss Sheraton, because it was a sweet shop in 1970.  

That's the first 1.   The second 1 is,   Cornwall Council are not responsible for the BIFA trucks and the wait on the road. They are. They subcontract the routes.   And   I've had repugation   letters from the council. I've set in their staff,   and   people can't see what's happened. But, honestly, if you saw the carnage   that it's caused in the this side of the house, the whole thing had to be removed, the front of the house, the side of the house.   My art career has died a death.   I was diagnosed with COPD in 2011.   My dad died of it at 63. I'm 60 next month.   I got diagnosed with COPD with 92%   lung function.  

And they said to me, you know,   the stress will make it worse.   And that happened when my house was falling down. And it said these 2 parties acting like adults and going, oh, we're really sorry for that.   Here's your conversation.   And in the meantime, we're going to indemnify the terrorists   so that if anything happens to you and your neighbors, you're protected   until we resolve this issue and we try to get a source.   And all they've done, the council,   the my peers have done, is they've sent me off to all these different departments,   kept me away from his line managers,   and he passed me through. If I ever phoned up the council, I got flagged back to him. If I ever phoned up the water board, I got flagged back to Tracy Symonds.  

It's a complete,   I've been I'm not a victim because I feel like a survivor, but I have been corporately bamboozled.   I mean, they've done everything.  

[00:48:12] Unknown:

What do you think your reason, like, their reason is for not doing it then? Is it the fact that they're gonna uncover  

[00:48:19] Unknown:

a a massive wormhole? So They don't want to open up the Pandora's box because once it's open, they can't put it back. And it's gonna cost a lot of money. And we're not just talking future liability. We're talking about developments can't happen in hell until it's resolved. I've been going to Haile Town Council saying you cannot have any more developments in Haile until this is sorted out because some poor bugger will get the impact from it.   And also,   I don't trust Southwest Water's water results because   if I if they couldn't find my meat, they couldn't find my supply   to put me on a meter,   and they've put me on a supply from next door. What was I drinking before?  

And I haven't paid the bills since 2012, and Southwest Water have left me alone. The only time they went for me, the court, is called a pincer movement.   And it was in 2016   when   my solicitors I've ran out of money, basically.   Southwest Water have offered me 3 times over the span of 8 years.   We'd like to bring this case to a closing, assured, and here is a goodwill gesture of £10, 000.   And I'm like, no. No. You're not getting it. That's not a building.   I want to know that this house is worth me paying a mortgage off on. Because in 2 years' time, I've got a mortgage of a 100 I don't care if it's in my business or not. I'm not offering anymore. I've got a mortgage of a 127, 000. And in 2 years' time, the interest rates are gonna change, and I'm gonna be, you know and I'm so And really, it's unmortgageable.  

[00:49:47] Unknown:

Sorry? Really, it's unmortgageable.  

[00:49:49] Unknown:

I mean, it's it's unmortgageable in a sense, but it I mean, the house itself is perfect. It's been underpinned and it's even more secure than all the other houses in the area. It's been they put in they put in 8 pillars.   So it's literally like Venice,   but it's still the fact that there's a running course going through it. And if it happens next door, I'm back at square 1. They actually happened under my house.   On the other side, I'm back at square 1 because I don't actually think an insurance company   would know how to deal with it. And that's why the insurance company previously said   it's not something they can deal with because it has an impact on somebody else. It's it's a network,   and they run-in 3 meter lengths these networks with knuckles on them. So if you're stuck in the middle of a length and you're pulling it about,   you're gonna be breaking it next door. So it can't be resolved by an ombudsman, solicitor.  

I mean, this will be extra on my gravestone.   We suggest you seek legal advice.   And what they're and what they're actually saying is, go away, poor person.   You can't afford justice,   so suck it up, buttercup. That's what they're saying, and they're planning on doing this to all the people on now. They're planning on leaving this,   ticking time gone to happen again.   Now I've had Love Day say to me a couple of weeks ago, well, you know, down to someone else, then the council would have to deal with it. I'm like, you know and she said, no. At the end of the day, it might have be had to be the council's responsibility. And I'm like, well, you know, 15 years of my life   of waking up when my fists curled,   knowing that my house could wash away at any minute   for something that I haven't done I haven't done anything wrong. I just bought this house. The house is beautiful. There's nothing wrong with the actual house. It's a subterranean   secret underneath it that I'm meant to keep my mouth shut and sell on. Right. It's like a really bad pass the parcel.  

And I'm not saying all the houses in hell affected by it, but a lot of them are.   And,   people who are listening to this know as well. And they just don't know how to deal with it. They're just stuck. They're just stuck. So now you've got all over the town   pipes where they can't turn them off   because if they are springs and streams, which are which are neither natural water supplies in Victorian times,   the Southwest Water have been inadvertently charging people for it.   You're not gonna get honest water results. They're not gonna turn around and go, oh, yes. By the way, sweetie, sorry. We've been charging you for a Sprint supply at 6.98.   They're not gonna do that. They're just gonna keep going 7.57.57.5.  

And why would you not trust them? Because   I didn't know that these companies were this bad.   I really I mean, honestly, the story is so much more layered than what I'm saying. And the way they've behaved   is disgusting. I mean, where is the council's duty of care? Kate Canale knows full well this story. They've got all my doctor's letters.   They've all got the letters   saying you are killing my patient.   I've now got 40% lung function left.   Thanks. Thank you for this. No. All they needed to do was   sort that out when it happened,   pay me compensation. I mean, Southwest Water took   6 years   of my bank accounts.  

They took they got a lot an action accountant to look at my stuff. I've got all the paperwork with them saying, thank you for your no going through it with a fine tooth comb. What's that £3 for?   And I had to separate all my different   revenues   color coded.   I missed out on a show in London because I have to sit on the bed and go through 6 years of my expenses and show them to the accountant   as Tracy Simon was trying to vision, trying to help me.   And I think they were gonna settle with me. It's when I mentioned the pipe.   That's when I mentioned the pipe. They were just shuffled off.  

And, yeah, I haven't heard from Southwest Water for for for years.   And then Cornwall council,   Kath Robinson, officer 151 in 2016. I wrote to her because I realized that Mark Peters was just gonna cover his ass. He was sending me off to all these different places that were like   no. I don't I don't even know they exist.   You know, they're just, you know, they're just made up companies. He's got his mates to sell, you know, send it there. I mean and I've got, I mean, I've got thousands. I've got 10 box files of evidence, maps, historical maps, stuff that Georgina gave me.   And, it's not my job.  

This is not my job to save hell, and I've gone through every avenue.   George Eustace,   I don't know what's the matter with a man.   He hasn't grasped it. And the last thing he said to me was, well, you know, it's not it's a bit more complicated than that. I'm like, well, it's your job as an MP to uncomplicate   work with that. It is your job. You're getting paid.   Our taxes are paying for you to serve us. So what are you doing?   And he I mean, I wanna see his letter, Shelley.   He's written as Chris Lofland. Oh, hi, Chris. I'm just wondering if you could, adopt this pipe that's, 1 of my residents that I have an issue with. That is the letter. That is the letter.   And it's got a letter back to Chris Loughton saying,   no.  



[00:54:44] Unknown:

No. No. Nobody wants to go near it with a barge pole.  

[00:54:48] Unknown:

And so for me, on on the verge of the elections tomorrow Yeah. No one's no one's gonna save you. No one's gonna save you. The only way this town's gonna be safe is for everybody   on mass to   withhold   until this is resolved. And this culvert outside that runs through the bottom of this town here, they blatantly said they're not   clearing out. And the mayor who's just resigned, who's amazing,   Anne Marie Rance, She's I'm sorry. I had to resign for personal reason.   She was the first 1 in 12 years in Hale Town Council that has seen the evidence and understood it   and wrote to DEFRA and said, look. There's anomalies here. There's people with 2 foot vertical pipes sticking up in their houses. We have to we have to stop, Mel.  



[00:55:31] Unknown:

I'm really sorry. I know we're we're gonna have to talk more about this. Would you like to give your email address out so if anybody wants to get in touch?  

[00:55:38] Unknown:

Yeah. They can. Yeah. They've got, you know I mean, anyone out of people in hail are listening to this because We got that I'm running out, and I'm literally physically running out of breath. Yeah. So  

[00:55:48] Unknown:

I am, you know, I'm withholding my council tax since November, which I'm in my life. Mel, because we literally probably got about 10 seconds, lovely.  

[00:55:56] Unknown:

Melly Woo, m e, double l, I e Yep.   W o 0 Yep.   64.  

[00:56:07] Unknown:

And I think you've just gone. And that's At Oh. Can you hear me? Yeah. I can hear you. Yahoo dot com. Yeah. I'll put you in the  

[00:56:13] Unknown:

[email protected].  

[00:56:15] Unknown:

Right. We have come to the end, my lovely. We will chat more about this. Thank you, Mel. Take care, my lovely. You too. Bye bye. Bye.