Project Update 14/10/2025

A brief note of apology to Northumbrian Water and Greystoke residents, following my earlier submission. I was away when the booster unit was delivered to the site, and arrived home well after dark on Sunday, October 19th. I didn’t notice that the unit wasn’t there. The following morning I submitted my objection online, assuming the unit to be in situ. Having done that, I then learned of residents’ direct action to prevent the installation. Apologies for making an assumption without checking the situation on the ground in daylight. That said, this note in no way alters the substance or intent of my earlier submission.

Thank You for Your Feedback We’d like to thank everyone who responded to our recent project update published on 14 October 2025. Your feedback is incredibly valuable, and we appreciate the time you’ve taken to share your thoughts with us. We’re currently reviewing all comments carefully to ensure every voice is heard. We’re committed to keeping you informed and working together and I’d like to reassure everyone that work has been paused until a full review has taken place. Once this review is complete, we will be in touch to provide more detailed information.

We echo all of the comments posted thus far by our neighbours on the Greystoke development, and would like to reiterate a few of them; No due process, significant consultation or duty of care has been evident on the part of Northumbrian Water. Most of what has gone on has been a complete mystery to many residents, and of course the work took far longer than we were led to believe. I suspect some incompetence here, too - I for one saw the 'box' delivered to the site several weeks before it was eventually installed, and duly taken away without being unloaded. Given the distance away of the consumers for whom the booster station has been installed - and we have no objection to them receiving this service, of course - we have to ask why it has been installed in what has to be the worst possible place? For a start there's a much bigger piece of infrastructure - the gas relay station - just a short distance down the road, shielded from view and far away from any dwellings. There are literally dozens of other places where the booster could have been sited. All you had to do was ask the people who live here - which you didn't. But you don't need me to tell you this, or anything else, given how comprehensively residents have already condemned the utter insensitivity - and yes, incompetence - of the planning, implementation and communication of everything to do with this project.

We also strongly object to the installation near the entrance to the Greystoke site. Its sheer size and positioning will ruin the entrance to the estate and severely impact the outlook for some of our neighbours gardens and rear windows which is not acceptable. I understand the need for this type of work but find it baffling why this is the intended location. The estate has been designed beautifully to fit in with the surrounding area and this “modest box” will look a total eye sore. As many other residents have suggested the work needs to be immediately halted, planned again with full and transparent consultation to find a location that is acceptable to the Greystoke residents and the local environment.

Unfortunately it does appear we have been deceived prior to the installation of this pumping station. As a resident on site our home has not received any notification of this development or the true location of the unit. An original message sent to one of our neighbours, distributed on a group chat, does state near the entrance and identified in red. However, your red marker clearly shows the unit being situated to the east and off our site and out of sight. Had the information provided at the time clearly identified where you were actually going to put the unit I am sure, myself and other neighbours may have responded more vocally at the time. Not after the job is almost complete. We hope this can be resolved to everyone’s satisfaction as this unit will have a detrimental impact on our right to a private and family life (UK Human Rights Act 1998). On which is and hopefully will continue to be a quiet residential private estate. Kind regards.

Now that we have seen the real size of the proposed small box we have no hesitation in affirming that we were deliberately lied to by Northumberland Water.The shed size installation will be a major eye sore at the entrance to our estate. Also no one on this estate was properly consulted for permission to install on our private property.

I am very concerned on two points - one that Northumbria Water have clearly failed to consult with the Greystoke residents, they have not been transparent about the work, the situation, the size or the sound / noise of the installation and two, the sheer disregard for using someone else’s land without approval (trespass) for what is a non-emergency installation on a road that is so long that it could have been placed in a hundred other places rather than behind residents properties, with absolutely no regard for the effect this has on them. I think we all appreciate the work is needed but the lack of consideration is unprofessional and falls short of the usual standard I personally would expect from you. I think you need to start again, consult properly and have some empathy for the situation of your bill payers. I am sure with some thought you can situate this huge pump elsewhere. There are roadsides and fields in abundance. Look forward to the hearing from you to consult and I would prefer a letter to my home address. Kind regards. Dawn Chadwick

I strongly object to the proposed work and agree with the comments already made by other residents here in the Greystoke estate. We were not consulted correctly in the first instance, the location of the works changed from the original plan. The construction will be an eyesore and not in keeping with the estate and its surrounding owned land. The noise will be a nuisance to nearby houses and significantly affect the value and future selling potential. Another location needs to be agreed upon which doesn’t affect the residents living on this Estate.

We also strongly object to the proposed work on the grounds that the original placement of the pumping station is not where work has been started. There has been absolutely no consultation with residents as to the installation. The modest box we were informed would be installed is actually the size of a decent sized shed and is fully in view from all windows at the front of our house. The originally proposed site would not have had this impact. We also strongly object to your contractors installing traffic lights and cones outside our property at midnight when we are currently nursing someone who is terminally ill. From start to finish yourselves and contractors have shown zero care or consideration for any of the residents here at Greystoke. This estate when planned by Cussins had to jump through many planning hoops to avoid a negative impact on the landscape and this installation has had none of the same care and consideration applied to it. It MUST be put through a consultation process.

To reiterate the views of others below, the residents whom this installation will impact were not properly consulted nor notified about this project. The only communication sent to residents shows the installation in an entirely different location which would not impact homes nearly as badly. Whilst we understand the need for this booster station, it seems to us that you have not followed due procedure in changing the location of this installation, and we do not agree to having this installed immediately outside our home, on a raised bank which overbears gardens. There are plentiful alternate locations in the immediate area that wouldn’t impact as badly and we would please ask that one such location is selected, away from homes. We would also ask that you desist from installing traffic management measures immediately outside our bedroom window, at gone midnight, throwing traffic cones down and waking me and my young baby. This noise nuisance is unacceptable and is unfair to residents.